Despite high-profile sporting events like the 2006 World Cup, HD take-up in Europe has not moved as fast as TV manufacturers would like.
Though the HD marketing machine has been whirring for a while now, research suggests that only 2 million European homes have a HD ready TV, with just 800,000 homes receiving HD programming. That compares poorly with 11 million in Japan and 19 million in the US, where the technology is much further advanced.
Marketers' next dream date is Christmas 2006, by when high-definition DVD players should have begun to establish themselves.
Even so, things are predicted to move at a slower pace than the US and Japanese, with predictions that by 2010 only 30% of households will have HD ready TVs - that's compared to 59% in the US and 66% in Japan.
"Content is king". That's what will continue to shift HD equipment from the showroom to the home. And, religious festivals aside, sport may continue to be one of the biggest draws - with the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Euro 2008 both being filmed in HD. And fortunately, the BBC seems to be one of the more forward-thinking European broadcasters, teaming up with other companies where necessary to spread the cost.
The US have OTA free HD (like our freeview but in HD) and a LOT of their programmes are available in HD so it's no wonder they have 19 million viewers. All the HD shows they export over here get shown on channels like E4, Living, channel 4 etc, all of which don't have HD channels.
While it costs a fortune to watch each month and very little content then it's not really going to take off very well over here!