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High-definition television (HDTV) on Freeview
Freeview viewers across the UK will be able to watch high definition TV channels possibly as early as next year, media regulator Ofcom and the BBC Trust announced on the 3rd of April 2008.
New technology and a reorganisation of the way channels are allocated on digital terrestrial television platform will free up space for four Freeview HDTV services.
The first three HD channels will be available as digital switchover takes place in the Granada TV region in the north-west of England and subsequent regions from 2009. All four HD channels should be available across the country by the time digital switchover is due to be completed in 2012.
One of them will be reserved for the BBC with the three others open to a competitive bidding process overseen by Ofcom among the public service broadcasters, including ITV, Channel 4, Channel Five and Welsh language channel S4C.
The consultation process which began last November still requires government approval to go ahead.
Viewers who want to watch the new channels will have to buy a new set-top box incorporating the superior MPEG-4 rather than MPEG-2 compression technology. MPEG-4 is twice as efficient as the MPEG-2 standard , while a new European transmission standard (DVB-T2) will increase capacity by 30%. These boxes are still being developed and discussions are taking place on when they will be available to buy in shops.
Freeview looks forward to working with the industry to bring this exciting and new TV viewing experience to the 16 million homes using the Freeview service.
More information is available here:
ID: 105015
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