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It has been confirmed today that ITV1 HD will be available as a standalone channel (channel 119 – no red button) from 2nd April 2010. The channel which will be a simulcast of ITV1 will also be available on Sky and Virgin Media.

The ITV1 schedule will be simulcast on the new channel, with the majority of peak time content available in ‘native’ HD, including all live football, and an increasing range of drama, factual and entertainment programming. Other ITV1 content including GMTV and the daytime schedule, will be ‘upscaled’ – giving viewers a better than ever experience of the nation’s most popular commercial channel.

Peter Fincham, ITV Director of Television, Channels and Online, said:

The availability of high definition content is something viewers have come to expect as standard and, as we approach the 2010 World Cup, I’m delighted that we are able to launch our new channel, ITV1 HD, on all major platforms.

All of our output will benefit from the stunning picture quality that high definition offers, whether it’s ITV’s original drama, landmark factual shows, entertainment events or our live football.

This is great news and should now put an end to all the problems ITV have had with certain manufacturers and the red button service; it should also put ITV more in the spot light to take the service more seriously and offer more high-definition content over the coming years.

**update 15 Mar 2010**
Amazon have now increased their price by a considerable amount; but Satbuyer are still selling at a very good rate.

The highly rated TechniSat HDFS Freesat HD receiver has seen a massive price drop over the past week which now puts it firmly in contention with the cheaper Humax FOXSAT-HD.

The TechniSat HDFS originally retailed for £199 but recent trade price drops and price matching has meant that this fantastic unit can be picked up brand new for as little as £139.99.

The price difference between the HDFS and FOXSAT-HD is now just £20 and with the TechniSat widely regarded as the best for reliability and picture; plus inclusive of a 3 year manufacturers warranty and USB record facility, the fractional additional cost must surely make this a bargain!!!

Don’t forget iPlayer will be available very soon too!

The TechniSat HDFS can be picked up for just £139.99 inc delivery from Amazon UK…

or £146 inc delivery from Satbuyer.

We have been tipped off that TechniSat will be receiving BBC iPlayer as part of their new software update due for release on the 16th March 2010.

In the same week, and maybe on the same day, Harvard Group is expected to also launch new software to give access to iPlayer, though at this stage we do not know if it will be their entire HD range of Grundig, Bush and Goodmans.

According to What Hifi, Sagem receivers will also have BBC iPlayer on the 15th.

iPlayer is currently available on Humax receivers and Sony IDTV via the red button home page or using page 7001.

Latest update scan on all Freesat receivers (23/02/10)

1 Added – 210 CNBC
0 Removed
1 Changed – 402 Information TV frequency change

It has been confirmed that the Business and financial news channel CNBC will be making its way to Freesat on Tuesday 23rd February 2010.

The channel moved from being an encrypted subscription channel on Sky’s news pack to becoming free-to-air (FTA) on 21st January 2010, leading to speculation that it might be launching on Freesat and now that seemingly has been confirmed.

Speaking of the launch, Mick Buckley, President and CEO, EMEA of CNBC, said;

Our decision to be available on Freesat, and to become a free-to-air channel in the UK, is part of our strategy to aggressively grow our distribution across EMEA in 2010.

Business and financial news remains very pertinent in today’s economy and this change gives consumers the opportunity to watch the best analysis of what’s happening in the financial markets in the UK and across Europe.

Last year CNBC significantly grew its upscale and affluent audience, as more viewers wanted to keep abreast of the dramatic changes in the economic environment. Our most recent EMS viewing figures showed that our daily audience was up 18% and our monthly audience broke seven million viewers,

The confirmed of the channel number slot will be 210 and will automatically be added via channel update some time on the 23rd.

This is good news that a another major broadcaster has taken what is an unusual decision to leave subscription only behind on satellite, in order to gain a potential wider audience (now 12 millions potential households); hopefully more will follow.

Following what we thought was the expected launch of iPlayer on Panasonic televisions today, it would seem that the secrecy has been over the new range of televisions launching soon, rather than anything else!

This is still good news though, especially for those with access to both Freesat and Freeview reception, as the new range shown below now include both Freesat HD and Freeview HD receivers built-in; a first in this country.

The range are as follows and will begin roll-out in March this year:

Plasma Televisions

Panasonic TX-P42G20B
Panasonic TX-P42V20B
Panasonic TX-P46G20B
Panasonic TX-P50G20B
Panasonic TX-P50V20B
Panasonic TX-P50VT20B
Panasonic TX-P65VT20B

LCD Televisions

Panasonic TX-L32G20B
Panasonic TX-L32D28BP
Panasonic TX-L32D28BW
Panasonic TX-L32D28BS
Panasonic TX-L37G20B
Panasonic TX-L37V20B
Panasonic TX-L37D25B
Panasonic TX-L37D28BS
Panasonic TX-L37W20B
Panasonic TX-L42D25B
Panasonic TX-L42W20B

Freesat last evening launched their information channel on 999. Take a look.

(we’ll update this page with more information soon)

It has been brought to our attention by one of our readers (thanks Mike!) that according to DTG, Panasonic’s current software version is due to be updated on Monday 15th February 2010.

We know that Panasonic have been working with the BBC to introduce iPlayer across their range of televisions (following Sony a few weeks back) but is this the date when it launches? We hope so!

We have contacted Panasonic and they have stated that they cannot release information coincidently until that very same date;

our 2010 line-up is under embargo until 9.00 GMT 15th Feb

We know quite a few of you have Panasonic televisions with Freesat built-in and are eagerly awaiting the availability of BBC iPlayer, so lets hope this is it!

Humax have released a new software update for the Humax FOXSAT-HDR (version 1.00.13) and Humax FOXSAT-HD (version 1.00.26), which is available for download over-the-air (OTA) today.

The update for the FOXSAT-HDR is said to just resolve MHEG issues for iPlayer, whilst the FOXSAT-HD the same plus issues with loss of signal on high-band vertical channels.

Do let us know by commenting below how you get on with the update and whether it resolves any problems you have been having.

(thanks to hummy.org.uk for the information)

Latest update scan on all Freesat receivers (26/01/10)

1 Added – 692 Genesis TV
0 Removed
1 Changed – 140 BET frequency change