CUTTING-EDGE television technology is to be free to the public from the end of next year, it was announced yesterday.
High definition television (HDTV), which is widely touted as being the future for home viewing, is to be broadcast on the digital Freeview service.
In a challenge to Sky television, four HD channels are to be launched through the service, which
is already in 15 million British homes.
However, customers hoping to use their existing digital box, even if it is installed in an HDTV-ready television, will have to pay out for an HD-adapted receiver.
The BBC will keep one of the new channels, while the other three will be auctioned off to commercial broadcasters such as ITV and Channel 4.
Currently the only way to watch programmes in ultra-clear high definition is by taking out a Sky subscription. But at the end of 2007, 8.5 million people owned HD-ready flat-screen televisions, while just 422,000 had subscriptions to Sky HD.
A further million had Blu Ray disc players, including PlayStation3 games consoles, that reproduce at HD quality levels.
Yesterday's move will make Freeview a much more formidable competitor, particularly for viewers not interested in Sky's sports coverage.
Ed Richards, chief of Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, said: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to upgrade digital terrestrial television. It offers benefits for viewers – who will have access to new channels and services on free-to-air and TV broadcasters – who will be able to launch new services without using any new spectrum."
The upgrade to Freeview has been made possible by technological improvements overseen by Ofcom known as MPEG-4 (video streaming) and DVB-S2 (data distribution). This will effectively increase the channel capacity of Freeview by about 20 per cent, letting it carry the extra information needed for HD.
Clare Newsome, editor-in-chief of What HiFi? Sound and Vision, said of the announcement: "It's what a lot of our viewers have been waiting for. Millions of HD-ready tellies have been sold and only a fraction of the people who own these have Sky. Not everyone wants a Sky disc or wants a Blu Ray player.
"People love the fact that with Freeview it comes through their normal aerial without the need for a subscription.
"What will frustrate a lot of people is that it's a slow roll-out and that it's just four channels."
She added, however, that the fact that people would have to buy more technology would add to existing confusion.
"Now that this has been announced, it won't be long before companies build them in. Sony has already done this for other regions. I think a lot of people think they're already watching HDTV because they bought an HD-ready telly. Who can blame them for being confused when sets are sold with HD logos all over them?"
Ms Newsome added that this would affect DVD recorders and other television technology: "One person e-mailed us saying 'When did buying a telly become such a nightmare?' and I totally sympathise with them."
Ofcom said applications by broadcasters for HD channels would be judged by "efficient use of the spectrum, contribution to public service broadcasting and contribution to the range and diversity of television services".
Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, said: "There is much support among the public for HD services. The trust's approval of the new BBC HD channel last November made clear all licence fee payers should have access to it as soon as possible."
'More detail, more action, more everything'CLARE Newsome, the editor in chief of What HiFi? Sound and Vision, explains what makes high definition television so great: "It shows you more of your favourites. Whether it's sport, movies or drama, it shows you more of the detail, more of the action; it just brings you closer to the picture. It's not just more realistic; in some cases it's ultra-realistic.
"If you have struggled to pick out faces or details in films in the past, with a good HDTV telly and box the difference is amazing.
"I have seen David Attenborough's Life on Earth in HDTV and it is jaw-droppingly good in terms of detail and sound. It's just closer to a realistic experience.
"The thing is that you don't realise how good HDTV is until you've seen it next to a standard television, and then you realise just what you've been missing. In football coverage, if there's a close-up of the players' feet, you can see blades of grass on the pitch.
"The fact is that there are millions of HD-ready televisions out there that are having standard resolution pumped through them, and in a lot of cases they can look worse than the CRT sets they left behind.
"So HDTV will make full use of their investment."
The full article contains 830 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
