It's down to the the transmission times on Freeview rather than the channel itself. I used to have Freeview and subscribed to Top up Tv and I only had ABC from 6am to 6pm as you quite correctly state but since switching to Telewest , I now have extended coverage with ABC but to be honest , you are not really missing much. Top up Tv sounded great to begin with for me but when you realise that not all of the channels run for long periods of time , such as the kids' cartoon channels Boomerang and Cartoon Network , then you realise that it's not as great as it seems. Mind you , at subscription of �7.99 per month in comparison to subscription fees with Sky and Telewest , I suppose you can't really complain.