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#1
05-05-2008, 10:07 PM
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Freesat satellite launch signals HD intent of BBC and ITV
Freesat satellite launch signals HD intent of BBC and ITV Dominic White and Juliette Garside
Last Updated: 1:51am BST 05/05/2008 ITV chairman Michael Grade and BBC director-general Mark Thompson will this week unveil the broadcasters' long-awaited free-to-air satellite service. Freesat, as the joint-venture service has been called, is seen as a key weapon in the broadcasters' fight against the might of BSkyB. However, it will have an inauspicious start, launching with just one channel. The channel, BBC HD, will offer a selection of the broadcaster's shows in a high definition (HD) format. Mr Grade and Mr Thompson are expected to promise a clutch of other channels in time for the summer, screening many shows in HD - which offers much sharper pictures. Viewers who pay £150 for the dish, box and installation should be able to watch the Olympics, Wimbledon and the Euro 2008 football championships in HD, provided they have an HD-ready TV set. More on media By the summer, the service will also promise to carry some major US hit shows in HD, such as ITV1's Pushing Daisies and BBC2's Heroes. Freesat will offer digital television for the 20pc of the population who cannot yet get Freeview, the free-to-air digital terrestrial service. It will also give coverage to the 1.5pc of the population who still will not be able to get Freeview once digital switchover is completed in 2012. advertisement However, analysts say Freesat's real value to ITV and the BBC is that its satellite technology will allow them to screen many more channels than the 47 currently available on Freeview, the free-to-air digital terrestrial platform. Crucially, Freesat will also have much greater capacity for screening shows in HD. Analysts have compared the move to HD pictures with the transition from black and white to colour TV. Sky already has 18 HD channels and wants to boost that to as many as 30 by next year, including a BBC channel. In contrast, plans by the regulator Ofcom are expected to allow for the introduction of just four HD channels on Freeview. Toby Syfret, media analyst at Enders Analysis, said: "Freesat is very important to the armoury of the public service broadcasters because it could allow them greater control of their destiny as regards HD, without having to deal through Sky. HD is attractive because people are getting bigger and bigger TV sets, and the bigger they get, the more noticeable the quality difference between HD and non-HD. "On a 44-inch screen, the quality difference is going to very, very clear and the high quality is what people will come to expect." Results from Whitehaven, the first area to experience analogue switch-off, showed that digital switchover also represented a huge opportunity for Sky, which offers its own free-to-air satellite service already. In the switchover process, around 40pc of analogue homes chose Sky and 60pc chose Freeview. "That relatively high percentage for Sky shows switchover is a big opportunity for a satellite platform and Sky is the only one offering it at present," said Mr Syfret. "So Freesat is important for the independent future of public service broadcasting if it wants to have a presence that is not wholly dependent on Sky."
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