Al Jazeera, Food Network Among Freesat Award Winners

LONDON: The Freesat Awards, honoring the best channels on the free digital TV platform owned by the BBC and ITV, named Al Jazeera English as the best news channel, while Food Network UK took best lifestyle channel and E4 best entertainment channel.

On the news award, Freesat said that the judges commended Al Jazeera’s journalism and impartiality and recognised its coverage of stories that go unreported elsewhere. E4 was hailed for its original voice, while Food Network UK was dubbed a "real trailblazer for themed programming in the U.K."

Honors also went to CBeebies as best children’s channel, Flava as best music channel and Horror Channel as the best themed network. ITV1 HD received a special judges award "because of the impact it has had across all Freesat homes in the past year. Moving from an initial red button service to a full channel, the judges awarded ITV1 HD for its huge commitment to developing the service into something Freesat viewers really love."