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HD REACHES TIPPING POINT IN TIME FOR WORLD CUP
Listed under: News
Published: Saturday, June 12, 2010
Ofcom calculate that half of all UK households can watch this year's tournament in HD
According to the government communications regulator, 50% of UK households will be able to view this year’s tournament in HD via a standard roof-top aerial as a result of Freeview HD’s early rollout, something of a turnaround from initial industry concerns regarding spectrum shortages. Greg Bensberg, leader of Ofcom’s Spectrum Policy Group, commented that, “Two years ago, the promise of HD on Freeview hung in the balance. HD demanded large amounts of additional spectrum – but there was none to be had.”
“Fortunately we identified a way of achieving what many thought was impossible – by reorganising existing TV services and introducing two new technologies – MPEG-4 and DVB-T2. This created enough capacity for five HD channels on Freeview.” Said channels include BBC HD, ITV HD, Channel 4 HD and S4C Clirlun, with BBC1 HD due to launch later in the year. Helping matters is the further finding by Ofcom research that more than 24-million HD-ready TVs had been sold by the end of March this year.
Encouraging news has also come from the UK’s major cable and satellite providers, with Sky reporting 428,000 new subscribers to its Sky HD service in Q1 2010, resulting in an overall Sky HD subscriber base of 2.5-million. During the same period, Virgin Media’s V+ HD service picked up an additional 77,900 subscribers, bringing its total to 939,900, while around 80% of Freesat sales to date have been made up HD receivers, translating as more than 800,000 cumulative sales by Q1 2010.
Looking ahead, Freeview HD will continue to be rolled out in line with the ongoing digital switchover schedule, with a target set of 98.5% UK household coverage by the end of 2012. Around 7% of those who switched to digital reception prior to December 2009 will receive the service in a retrofitting programme currently on course for completion within the next few months.
Contact:
www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/hd
“Fortunately we identified a way of achieving what many thought was impossible – by reorganising existing TV services and introducing two new technologies – MPEG-4 and DVB-T2. This created enough capacity for five HD channels on Freeview.” Said channels include BBC HD, ITV HD, Channel 4 HD and S4C Clirlun, with BBC1 HD due to launch later in the year. Helping matters is the further finding by Ofcom research that more than 24-million HD-ready TVs had been sold by the end of March this year.
Encouraging news has also come from the UK’s major cable and satellite providers, with Sky reporting 428,000 new subscribers to its Sky HD service in Q1 2010, resulting in an overall Sky HD subscriber base of 2.5-million. During the same period, Virgin Media’s V+ HD service picked up an additional 77,900 subscribers, bringing its total to 939,900, while around 80% of Freesat sales to date have been made up HD receivers, translating as more than 800,000 cumulative sales by Q1 2010.
Looking ahead, Freeview HD will continue to be rolled out in line with the ongoing digital switchover schedule, with a target set of 98.5% UK household coverage by the end of 2012. Around 7% of those who switched to digital reception prior to December 2009 will receive the service in a retrofitting programme currently on course for completion within the next few months.
Contact:
www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/hd
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