A digital television transition is occurring in the U.K. And HD is emerging in the U.K. as an interesting option for broadcasters, as well as cable and satellite services. As in the U.S., it looks like sports may play a key role in generating consumer interest in the high definition format.
The eagerly anticipated ’06 FIFA World Cup 2006 soccer championship tournament, which will be held in Germany beginning in early June, is scheduled to be among the first major sporting events to be broadcast in HD in the U.K.
BBC HD trials are underway and the first HD program in this pioneering effort will be the opening World Cup match–Germany versus Costa Rica–on June 9. The BBC HD trial will continue with the BBC’s share of World Cup matches up to and including the July 9 final, followed by HD coverage of Wimbledon matches from Centre Court and Court One.
In addition to the sporting events, BBC HD trials will feature BBC programming including natural history series Planet Earth and Galapagos, drama documentary Hannibal and some BBC Proms concerts including the First and Last Nights, in HD quality. The BBC reported that the amount of new programming each day will vary, averaging between one and two hours.
The HD trial is scheduled to last for about 12 months, enabling the BBC to test technical delivery of HD and to evaluate audience interest.
Meanwhile, additional HD channels and services are emerging. Notably Sky HD is rolling out a number of HD channels in its HD package including BBC HD, Discovery HD, as well as movie channels and other choices.
HD coverage would of course only be accessible to viewers who have HD ready televisions, HD set top boxes and HD services from satellite or cable providers. High profile sports are widely viewed as important to raising consumer awareness of the format. Some believe the cost of entry is a key issue, and suspect that as HD capabilities become more affordable, interest will rise.
As for the impact on advertising, Pat Joseph, chief creative officer of London-headquartered The Mill (which also maintains an office in New York), said that he expected some HD finishing requests for broadcast television commercials, but that has not yet started. He added that the company is finishing HD spots, but those are typically for cinema advertising or where the advertiser wishes to create a high resolution data master that would be used for multiformat deliverables.
“Broadcasters don’t want to change the way they receive commercials at the moment; they are not under pressure from advertisers yet,” Joseph said. “I’m sure as take up for HD become more, there will be pressure to finish in HD.”
The Mill’s managing director Andy Barmer added that BeamTV, the Mill-owned service that delivers spots to stations, continues to send commercials in the PAL format. Explaining that he recently communicated with Sky, he related, “what they intend to do for commercials is use their existing commercial playout network and upres core source material in PAL.
“That will not be the case forever,” he said. “They are prudent in what they are investing. People want HD [sports] and they are investing in the things they can sell.
There are certainly parallels in what is occurring in the U.S. and U.K. With this in mind, it is probably safe to assume that in the U.K., sports will play a continuing role in generating HD interest, cost of entry will decrease, and available content is critical. And HD commercials will begin airing — well, that one’s open to debate.
