[opendtv] news: BBC backs new era of high definition TV
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 07:37:34 -0500
BBC backs new era of high definition TV: Plans to 'simulcast' top
programmes next year: Modern sets and decoders needed to watch HDTV
November 9, 2005 12:00am
Source: The Guardian
A high definition format - described by enthusiasts as the equivalent
of TV moving from black and white to colour - is to be introduced by
the BBC for many of its best-known programmes.
The BBC's director of television, Jana Bennett, will tonight unveil
plans to "simulcast" highlights of BBC1's peaktime schedule,
including major drama, documentaries and sport shows, in high
definition from the middle of next year on satellite and cable. It
will also launch a trial of HDTV broadcasts via Freeview, the free to
air digital service, using spare capacity in the London area.
Advocates of the technology, which produces pictures four times as
detailed as conventional broadcasts, claim that programmes look
incredibly lifelike, with more vivid colours and better quality
surround sound. It is already popular in America and the far east.
The corporation, which already produces some programmes, such as
Bleak House and Rome, in high definition for sale to the overseas
market, has appointed a head of HDTV to manage and run the trial.
Seetha Kumar, who coordinated pan-BBC events such as the recent
Africa Lives season, will take the role. Big budget natural history
series, including the forthcoming Planet Earth, and sporting events
will also be filmed in the format and the BBC has pledged to move all
its production to HD by the end of the decade.
But some will find the move controversial at a time when the BBC has
asked for a 2.3% above inflation licence fee increase and is also
leading the conversion to digital TV by 2012. In its submission, the
BBC said it would need an extra pounds 700m to build a new
broadcasting infrastructure to support digital and high definition
broadcasts. "From colour and widescreen to digital radio and
television, the BBC has always been at the forefront of innovations
in broadcasting," said Ms Bennett. "Our promise to our licence payers
is to give them the highest quality television, so the time is right
for the BBC to get involved in high definition."
To take advantage of the higher quality pictures, viewers will need
an HDTV-ready television set. They will also need a cable or
satellite set top box capable of decoding the high definition signal.
The Digital Television Group said that a third of the 5.5m TV sets
sold in the UK in the past year are already capable of receiving the
next-generation broadcasts.
BSkyB will be the first broadcaster to launch a range of high
definition channels in the first half of next year, including special
versions of Sky One, Sky Sports and Sky Movies. Its chief executive,
James Murdoch, has said the technology "blows your mind". Cable
operators NTL and Telewest will follow suit, initially offering HDTV
programming delivered on demand rather than live broadcasts.
Broadcasters are unlikely to be able to launch high definition
channels on Freeview until after 2012, when extra capacity will be
freed up by the switch from analogue to digital television. A
spokesman for Sky said that the pay TV group had already brought
forward the launch of HDTV because of consumer enthusiasm for better
quality pictures and sound, shown by the boom in DVD sales, home
cinema and widescreen television sets.
* George Entwhistle, the executive behind the BBC's return to
peak-time arts programming with The Culture Show, has been made head
of television current affairs at the corporation. The executive
editor, topical arts for BBC2 and BBC4 will fill the position vacated
by Peter Horrocks when he was promoted to head of television news
earlier this year.
<<The Guardian -- 11/09/05>>
<< Copyright ©2005 The Guardian. >>
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