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This year will see the UK’s first ever HD Christmas from Freesat with a feast of high-definition programme highlights. A whole range of Christmas films, comedies, dramas and family entertainment will be brought to life with vivid HD picture and sound.

BBC HD (channel 108)

BBC HD will be showcasing a huge range of family films over the Christmas period, meaning viewers won’t have to rely on the family Blu-ray player for a dose of HD entertainment. Films include:

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Brothers Grimm
The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit
Starter For Ten
Toy Story 2
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter Of Loaf And Death

The BBC HD Channel will keep the nation laughing with the return of some comedy favorites, including the welcome return of all-new The Royle Family and Gavin and Stacey, all in HD;

After You’ve Gone Christmas Special
Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special
Lead Balloon
The Royle Family Christmas Special

Other festive HD highlights from the BBC will include the Shrek The Halls Christmas Special from everyone’s favourite green film star, the Christmas special of Strictly Come Dancing, and Michael Palin returning to bring the world to our screens in 80 Days Revisited. In addition Casanova, Doctor Who Prom, Lark Rise to Candleford, The 39 Steps and The Queen’s speech will all be available in HD on BBC HD Channel over Christmas.

ITV HD (via the red button on channel 103)

ITV HD will be showing a veritable feast of Christmas movies and entertainment, as well as top-drawer sport over the Christmas period and the finale of all-singing, all-dancing drama Britannia High.

Movie lovers will get to experience a range of blockbuster films in full HD, including;

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
True Lies
Ali G
Bird on a Wire
Meaning of Life

The drama won’t be limited to blockbuster films though, with ITV HD showing UEFA Champions League matches in HD, making every blade of grass, bead of sweat and even the odd tear, even more life like.

Now is a great time to own Freesat, so if you haven’t already taken the plunge, there’s still time before the big day!

Freesat has today unveiled its largest advertising campaign to date, launching 4th November 2008, which will highlight the satellite TV service’s subscription free high-definition (HD) offer and run across national newspapers, supplements, TV listings publications, commuter press and a wide range of digital media.

The campaign centres around viewers emotional responses to watching their favourite programmes in HD on Freesat, including BBC HD’s Strictly Come Dancing, Little Dorrit, In the Night Garden, ITV HD’s UEFA Champions League football and new teen drama Britannia High.

Key messages communicated in the campaign include;

- Freesat’s attractive no subscription, no monthly bills proposition
- Freesat’s range of channels, which currently number 140, including free HD from the BBC and ITV
- Freesat’s UK wide signal coverage, which stands at 98%
- The ease of equipment purchase and set-up

Freesat, which recently announced that product sales had reached over 100,000 in only five months, has worked with creative agency farm to create and implement the campaign, with media agency MPG handling media planning and buying.

Will Abbott, Freesat marketing and communications director commented;

Freesat offers 140 channels and UK-wide coverage for everyone, for free – no subscription and no monthly bills. That’s a brilliant offer and great value. Add to that some of the best of BBC and ITV in HD for free and it just gets better. But we’re interested in people not pixels. It’s the heightened viewing experience HD offers that we’re focusing on in our campaign – the feeling that you’re really there, immersed in the action.

Just in case you are not aware of our ITV HD TV Schedule, check it out, there are 8 programmes in high-definition over the next 2 weeks, which is quite a lot for ITV. Still lacking a certain depth of programming, but it’s better than what we’ve seen from them lately. Check it out!

Big thank you to Snoods for the updates…as always.

Further to the news announcement today that Ofcom has awarded two licenses for HD channels on Freeview from 2010, Freesat wish to point out the following:

- Roll out of Freeview HD channels will be linked to digital switchover, which means that HD will only become available in the UK on a region-by-region basis from launch until 2012. See this page for information.

- In order to view HD channels on Freeview, consumers will need to replace their existing Freeview receiving equipment (either a set-top box or television with Freeview receiver built-in) by purchasing entirely new equipment.

- Freeview coverage in the UK currently stands at 73%. Even after digital switchover there will still be a proportion of UK households which will not be able to view Freeview and it’s HD channels whilst Freesat reaches 98% of UK homes now.

Quote from Freesat concerning today’s announcement:

With Freesat, subscription free high definition (HD) is already a reality for the UK. We believe our no strings offer of over 130 channels plus great HD programmes from the BBC and ITV, for a one off payment of as little as £120, is leading the way in making HD the standard that viewers will come to expect in the future.

Due to the way we broadcast our service, via satellite rather than traditional aerial, HD is available now to 98% of UK homes via Freesat. Freesat homes don’t have to wait until Digital Switchover reaches their region to get HD for free – which for large parts of the country is still over three years off.

Freesat, the free digital satellite television service has reached 100,000 sales within just five months of launching on 6th May 2008, having maintained strong, steady growth throughout what has been a tough summer for high street retailers.

In a tough economic climate Freesat are delighted with the figures, suggesting the uptake is a result of free high-definition driving sales, as well as live HD sporting events both on the BBC and ITV channels.

With an autumn schedule boasting UEFA Champions League, England World Cup qualifiers and FA Cup football on ITV HD exclusive to Freesat, and first class dramas and entertainment including Heroes and Strictly Come Dancing from BBC HD, strong sales are set to continue.

Emma Scott, Managing Director of Freesat commented,

There’s no denying how much people enjoy watching in high definition once they see it for themselves and the success of Freesat proves that. Unfortunately there are still a lot of people out there who think they’re already watching in HD because they have an HD ready TV - but they aren’t.

We want to help everyone understand that HD Ready is not the same thing as HD now. Without an HD digital receiver connected to an HD Ready TV or an integrated TV with Freesat HD built in you can’t watch an HD TV programme. It needn’t be complicated or costly. For those people that already have a satellite dish installed, they may simply be able to take their Freesat digital box or integrated TV home and plug it straight in.

So what does the future hold for Freesat?

The introduction of Freesat+ (their words, not ours!), a digital television recorder (DTR or HDR), due for release by Humax in November (confirmed).

An increased number of manufacturers, including some leading brands whom are already in discussions with Freesat, plus a larger supply chain.

Freesat are also continuing with it’s plan to offer 200 channels by early 2009, with channels being added to the EPG every week or two. Channel Five is said to be just a few weeks away, with an exclusive Freesat channel (presumed RTE, not official) expected by the end of the year.

Commenting on the future of Freesat, Emma Scott said,

We’ve done a great job so far, and we’re delighted that so many people are now satisfied Freesat homes. We look forward to continuing to work with all our partners to build on our success for Christmas and into 2009

Whilst the viewing figures might not reach that of King Kong the other day, it’s worth noting that Saturday 13th September sees the pinnacle of the UK’s classical music season, Last Night of the Proms, on BBC HD.

The finale of the Proms season, which has played host to some of the finest classical talents from around the world, is to be broadcast in high-definition, showing every mini-Union Jack flag and violin stroke in picture quality five times that of standard definition television.

BBC HD’s broadcasting of the Proms also means that music lovers will be able to listen to some of the performances in Dolby 5.1 sound, transforming living rooms up and down the country into symphony halls.

Commenting on the Proms being broadcast in HD, Emma Scott, Managing Director of Freesat said;

The annual Proms season is a British, and BBC institution. Free high-definition coverage of these events via Freesat means that music lovers can immerse themselves in the amazing experience that high definition and digital audio gives you.

ITV HD schedule static page now available here

It seems that no matter where you look, its impossible to find a schedule of programmes due to be shown on ITV HD. ITV’s own TV guide is useless, not even showing Harley Street as in HD, which is odd considering its their first weekly drama and they made such a big deal of it when it first broadcast.

What we’ve decided to do is post below the HD programmes we know are scheduled to be available (in the coming weeks), and was hoping with the participation of our readers we’d be able to get as complete a list as possible, so if you are aware of any more, please post a comment and we’ll update this post…then we’ll consider building a static page around it.

ITV HD schedule static page now available here

Not to be missed! Britain From Above, a new documentary hosted by Andrew Marr which begins Sunday 10th August at 9pm on BBC HD and BBC One.

An epic journey revealing the secrets, patterns and hidden rhythms of our lives from a striking new perspective.

Join host Andrew Marr as he discovers how each and every one of us is interconnecting making Britain what it is today.

Britain looks very different from the skies. From a bird’s eye view of the nation, its workings, cities, landscapes and peoples are revealed and re-discovered in new and extraordinary ways.

Cutting edge technology allows you to see through cloud cover, navigate the landscape and witness familiar sights as never seen before.

We have been lucky enough to see a preview of this in high-definition and it was nothing short of stunning, the best we’ve seen from BBC’s high-definition service so far. Do not miss it.

Visit BBC’s Britain From Above website for more information.

Short notice but don’t forget that the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics is on BBC One and BBC HD at 12.45pm today, in just 10 minutes time.

It’s expected to be spectacular and should look absolutely amazing in high-definition so don’t miss it.

Freesat have today announced the Olympics will be in high-definition on the BBC. Now of course we already knew this, but the fact that Freesat have made an official statement is a good indication that everything is set for the start of the games. Emma Scott, MD of Freesat said

The Olympics is the ultimate global sporting event, and viewers will be astounded by the quality of the BBC’s HD footage; every drop of water falling off the oars of a rower to the sand erupting from the long jump pit will be beautifully clear. At Freesat, we’re committed to bringing brilliant HD programming to as many UK viewers as possible, for free. The scope of BBC’s HD coverage of the Beijing Olympics is testament to the exciting future of HD broadcasting in this country.

Lets all get behind Freesat and the BBC on this one, it should be an amazing spectacle.

It’s expected that the first broadcasts will be of the football starting tomorrow (6th) and its been confirmed that all interactive channels will be standard-definition, with the exception of BBC HD of course.

Don’t forget to receive the Olympics in high-definition you’ll need a Freesat HD receiver from Humax, Grundig, Goodmans or Bush, or alternatively a Panasonic Plasma with Freesat built-in. More information on the receivers available, plus price comparisons can be found here.