Ofcom
has given the green light for the
BBC to start
broadcasting in high definition via the
Freeview
service.
The comms regulator said in a
Market
Impact Assessment that the BBC's free offering would not disrupt the market
and that any impact on commercial providers is likely to be minimal.
"The BBC HD channel is likely to deliver consumer benefits through increased
take-up of HD, and pay satellite and cable platforms could benefit from
increased subscriptions to their HD services," said Ofcom.
"Because the market positions of different broadcasters and TV service
providers differ across platforms, we consider it a positive factor that the
benefits are likely to be spread across all these major platforms."
Under the proposals the BBC will broadcast HD programmes on Freeview between
2am and 6am when spectrum is available.
But the corporation will be broadcasting nine hours of content a day by next
year, and providing the same material to satellite and cable channels.
The BBC will eventually want to broadcast nine hours of HD content on
Freeview, but this will not be possible until after the digital switchover is
completed in 2012.
Ofcom also recommended that the BBC should look at ways to stream HD content
over the internet once the necessary bandwidth becomes available.
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