Nearly 18m homes in the UK will need to retune their Freeview set-top boxes to watch next year’s Football World Cup in High Definition (HD).
There is a plan in place to reorganise the digital transmission signals to allow the BBC and ITV to launch their specific Freeview HD channels before the World Cup kicks off.
Those of us who want to take full advantage of the new HD channels will have to own a new Freeview HD box, if you don’t own one you are looking at £200 to get one.
The World Cup in HD should look just as stunning.
Some insiders think that this may cause mass confusion amongst the UK public.
An argument to back this up is the fact that when 500,000 people on the south coast of England had to retune their set-top boxes in March, the Digital Switchover helpline received thousands of calls.
But, broadcasters are keen to get more HD channels on the Freeview platform and they insist that retuning the set top box isnt as complicated as it sounds.
Most Freeview remotes or set top boxes will have a ‘retune button’ that you will need to press when prompted. On completion of the retune you will have access to the new channels.
Another point made by the broadcasters is the fact that with more channels coming onto the platform all the time, people need to get used to updating their set top boxes to take advantage of the services available.
As part of the plan to bring forward the launch of Freeview HD services, five TV transmitters covering some of the UK’s most heavily populated urban areas, including London, Birmingham, the north-west and the north-east, will have to be upgraded ahead of their planned digital switchover change.
Simplifydigital understand that some broadcasters are still waiting for their licenses to be awarded from Ofcom before they can think about getting their HD content on Freeview, whilst other channels, such as Channel 4, have admitted that due to the economic downturn there are question marks over whether they will get one at all.
If you want more information on the digital switchover call one of our digital experts on 0800 466 1047 or, if you want to compare digital TV, home phone and broadband packages click here.
