The BBC is ending its high definition test channel on the digital terrestrial platform on May 31, which has been broadcasting from London’s Crystal Palace transmitter since June 2006. The successful HD test was always intended to end after a few months and, indeed, ran longer than originally planned as BBC engineers conducted additional trials with different transmission methods, such as bitrate alterations.
The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and five all took part in the trial, though the commercial stations’ tests went off air at the end of 2006. The broadcasters were granted a special temporary licence by the regulator Ofcom. Special set-top boxes made by ADB/i-CAN and Humax were issued to 450 volunteers in the Greater London area. These carried the necessary MPEG4/AVC decoding technology as well as an HDMI output.
In a message to the trialists, the BBC said, “The trial testing has been a great success and we can't thank you enough for your valued participation and the useful feedback you've given throughout. We hope you've greatly enjoyed your HD viewing experience.”
The BBC’s open HD trial channel on digital satellite and cable will continue. The BBC’s governing trust has given its consent for the trial to continue while it undertakes a public value test on the broadcaster’s plans to launch a UK HD service across all available platforms.
The corporation hopes that that this could launch in 2008 and is likely to involve the proposed Freesat offering – a kind of Freeview package using digital satellite that will not require ordering anything from Sky. The Freeview platform is unlikely to be included in the near future because it depends on frequencies becoming available after analogue switch-off, as well as approval from Ofcom.
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