The two-hour opening episode of series four of '24' airs on January 30 at 9pm on Sky One and Sky Travel, which is available on Sky Digital, cable and Freeview.
To view the rest of the season, Sky Travel viewers will have to subscribe to Sky One where the drama can be exclusively seen on Sunday evenings at 9pm.
'24', starring Kiefer Sutherland, has been a massive success story for Sky One, regularly securing more than 1.5m viewers and already in its fourth series. It is the second series of the drama that the satellite channel has aired, with the first two airing on the BBC.
In the latest outing, Bauer is working for the secretary of defence James Heller, played by William Devane, while secretly being romantically involved with his daughter. The third series saw Sutherland's Jack Bauer character take on a Mexican drug cartel who were bent on unleashing a lethal virus that could wipe out much of the country's population.
By giving Freeview users a glimpse of the series, Sky is hoping to lure viewers on to its pay-TV service where more than 200 channels are offered, as opposed to the 30 on Freeview.
The news comes as Christmas sales have increased the number of Freeview households in the UK to 5m, compared with almost 4m at the end of September.
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