Al Jazeera English is now competing against Sky News and the BBC News Channel in the UK after going live on Freeview 24 hours a day.

The station is now available on Channel 83 of Freeview - extending the station’s reach to 20m homes. It has previously been available in 12m satellite TV homes in the UK.

Al Jazeera English managing director Al Anstey said: “This is a major opportunity for many more viewers to experience our high-quality, in-depth coverage of events in the UK, in Europe, and around the globe.

The English version of the Qatar-based rolling news channel now claims to reach a potential audience of 260m homes in 130 countries.