It seems that UK public broadcasters will face a battle to reserve part of the soon to be available broadcasting spectrum for free-to-air HD channels from the government.
We recently reported that the lobby group, HD For All, was planning talks with government regulator, Ofcom, to propose the spectrum could be used to broadcast HD channels on the Freeview digital platform. But, comments from Ofcom's Philip Rutnam suggest that it's unlikely to succeed.
According to Rutnam, "The days when a spectrum could be doled out by governments or regulators in a system of barter are gone." Rutnam also disagreed with ITV CEO Michael Grade's belief that the existing spectrum only has room for two HD channels. “Grade said the problems were insurmountable. In my experience things are rarely insurmountable, if there is sufficient will to make them surmountable. Of the spectrum being released, 70 percent has already been awarded to the public-service broadcasters.”
Ofcom last month a decision on details of how the spectrum would be used and also postponed the auction of another section of the mobile 3G spectrum - suggesting that mobile carriers will end up the beneficiaries.
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