Regarding your Freeview v Freesat question:
Freeview is a terrestrial service, received through a conventional aerial. The channels you can receive are shown here:
http://www.freeview.co.uk/Channels
(A basic Freeview set-top box will cost you around £20)
Any satellite receiver (including your existing Sky+ box, even if you allow the subscription to expire), attached to a normal Sky dish, can receive all of these channels free of charge:
http://en.wikipedia.o...channels_at_28%C2%B0E
So you don't need to buy anything extra in order to continue seeing many TV stations.
Freesat is a service from the BBC and ITV which uses a special set-top box. It basically gives you exactly the same channels as those listed in my Wikipedia link above but adds on 'red button' interactive services, plus some text-based services.
Channel list (page 1 of 3):
http://www.freesat.co...-you-get/our-channels
A basic set-top box will cost around £30.
There's also 'Freesat from Sky' (which, confusingly, isn't the same as 'Freesat'). With that system you'll get the channels listed in my Wikipedia link, plus a few interactive services thrown in by Sky. You could use your existing Sky+ box but with a special card which Sky sells for a one-off payment of £25.
Chris