Sky Gives Sneak Peak Of HDTV Launch
BSkyB took its first tentative steps towards unveiling its high definition (HD) TV service yesterday, as its consumer website briefly went live, offering a sneak peak of what lies in store for customers when roll out begins next year.
The site, which will soon launch in full at www.sky.com/hd, gave information on the new service, which Sky hopes will begin broadcasting next year, offering increased quality for its broadcasts and supporting the latest high quality plasma screen TVs.
The embryonic website also invited users to sign up for HDTV, but gave no clue as to final package details or their prices.
According to the website, Sky will introduce a new set-top box to accommodate the high definition signals, with all HD boxes equipped with a hard drive and Sky+ features – ready to be activated by customers’ relevant subscriptions.
Sky+ subscriptions are currently given to those customers paying £10 per month extra, or who subscribe to more than one premium channel, such as Sky Sports 1 & 2 or Sky Movies 1 & 2.
The introduction of a new ‘one size fits all’ HD-ready set-top box could see customers upgrading to HD from a standard Sky subscription with more than one premium channel receiving Sky+ features, and the required equipment, for free – circumventing Sky’s current charge of £89 for its standard Sky+ box.
A spokeswoman for Sky was tight lipped about the service, however, telling NewsLine that there is, as yet, no firm decision on the channel line up for Sky’s HD services, or a definite start date for broadcasts.
The website describes the service as making TV look “incredible” however, with “intensely colourful, extremely clear” and “stunningly sharp images”. Sky states that its HD service will be “like going to the cinema in the comfort of your own home.”
Many of Sky’s HDTV broadcasts will also transmit with full surround sound, encoded in the Dolby 5.1 standard. Amongst those events lined up for the broadcaster’s launch are HDTV versions of its Premiership football coverage, with every match set to be broadcast in HD from 2006.
HDTV has yet to capture the public’s imagination in Britain, with few consumers possessing the superior quality television sets required to make the most of it. However, American consumers have given the new technology a warm response, with a boom in equipment sales in the run-up to Christmas 2004.
US market analyst, eMarketer, has predicted that the number of digital TV households in the US will total 70.3 million by 2007, up from 44.2 million in 2003, as more people switch to the service, predominantly supplied by digital cable and satellite.
British broadcasters have been slow to adopt HD broadcasts, however, with the BBC recently trialing the technology on selected programmes, while cable operator, ntl, has begun testing its first high definition TV services via new ADSL2+ IPTV technology (see NTL Trials High Definition TV With Ultra Fast Broadband).
April saw Sky break its silence over forthcoming HDTV services, offering specifics of technology and equipment suppliers involved in the launch. So far the satellite superpower has agreed to work with Sony, Tandberg Television and the Harris Corporation, with Sony signed to construct and equip a new HDTV studio at BSkyB’s Isleworth headquarters, as well as supplying additional equipment for edit suites and dubbing facilities at the same site (see Sky Announces HDTV Launch Partners).
Sky: 08702 40 40 40 www.sky.com