Channel 4 to Launch HD Channel, BBC Unveils HD Plans

LONDON, September 19: Channel
4 will be the first analog network in the U.K. to launch a high-definition
channel, with plans to roll out an HD simulcast of its flagship service
starting in December on Sky’s digital satellite service, while the BBC has
presented its plans for an HD service.

“The launch of Channel 4
HD represents an early, cost-efficient entry into a valuable, emerging market
and an important enhancement to the service offered to the rapidly increasing
number of HD viewers," said the Channel 4 director of new business, Rod
Henwood, as reported in the Media Guardian.

“We believe that increased
investment in HD at this stage could help boost HD production for the benefit
of producers of Channel 4 programs who will find their programs more saleable
in the international market."

At first, Channel 4 will
produce and broadcast only a portion of the programs on its schedule in HD. The
percentage of HD shows will increase in the future. The HD channel will
initially be available on Sky and at a later date on digital cable and the
digital terrestrial platform Freeview as well.

Meanwhile, BBC Trust, the
new body that oversees the BBC on behalf of license fee payers, published its
Public Value Assessment (PVA) of the BBC's proposals for a high-definition
television channel.

“The PVA concludes that
the proposed service would significantly promote the BBC's public purpose of
‘helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications and
services’,” says Christopher Woolard, the head of finance, economics, and strategy
for the BBC Trust. “However, the PVA highlights some issues about the relative
public value of a more limited service on DTT compared to other platforms. The
Trust will consider these findings along with those in Ofcom's MIA document
before reaching its provisional conclusions, which we expect to publish on
Tuesday 25 September."

The BBC proposal calls for
a mixed-genre, high-definition TV channel on digital satellite, digital cable
and digital terrestrial television (DTT or Freeview). There are two key
variations within the proposal regarding these platforms:

Satellite and cable: the
proposal is for a nine-hour service broadcasting from 3 p.m. to midnight, with
some flexibility to extend beyond this to allow coverage of significant live
sport or other events.

DTT: two options are
proposed: the first is that after digital switchover a full nine-hour service
as described above, or in the meantime a four-hour schedule broadcasting
overnight between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

The PVA recommends that it
would be preferable for the BBC to deliver a nine-hour service on DTT
equivalent to that on cable and satellite at the earliest opportunity within
the BBC's existing DTT capacity. Much will depend on Ofcom's proposed
re-organization of broadcast multiplexes and therefore BBC Trust recommends
that a review of HD on DTT be made in early 2008 when Ofcom's position will be
clearer.

The PVA also recommends
that, in the event of the proposals receiving approval, certain service
conditions should be considered to safeguard the public value of the proposals
put forward and to help strive for greater public value.

These are: the service
should launch on Sky and digital cable platforms as soon as possible after any
PVT decision and on Freesat from platform launch; the channel should broadcast
the best of HD content from other BBC channels between 19.30 and 22.00 and not
just simulcast BBC One; the operation of any DTT service should comply with the
BBC Parliament service license and commitments previously given to Parliament; and
finally, the service should be reviewed after 2012 following digital
switchover.

Following the publication
of the BBC Trust's provisional conclusions, there will be a four-week period of
public consultation. The Trust expects to publish its final decision on the BBC
Executive's proposals for a BBC HDTV channel on or before Wednesday, November
21.