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ITV HD have announced their Christmas programme schedule and must say that if you are in to your films and dramas, you are going to love the content on this festive season.

Films include the sixth Star Wars films, Return of the Jedi (if you work that way around, it’s the third to me!); also on is Gorillas in the Mist, The Nutty Professor, Love Actually, Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason, Gladiator and so much more. There is also a Take That special allowing you to enjoy their sell-out ‘Circus’ tour from the past few months.

Settle in this Christmas with ITV HD, visit the full schedule of 48 programmes here.

BBC HD’s schedule for the next 9 days can be found here.

This message is a direct press release from Freesat

Jump aboard the Millennium Falcon and prepare to fight the Death Star as the entire Star Wars movie franchise is coming to a living room near you, in High Definition and subscription free, on the ITV HD service from Freesat, starting 24th October.

Running throughout the month of November and December, the entire series will be airing on ITV HD in consecutive order, beginning with Episode I: The Phantom Menace on 24th October, culminating with Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in December, and including the terrestrial premiere of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. A favourite of film fans of all ages, this franchise has to be seen in digitally remastered HD.

The Star Wars have generated a universe of their own, from books to video games and has made stars of actors such as Harrison Ford. Originally released in 1977 with Star Wars, followed by The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, director George Lucas returned to Star Wars in 1999 with The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, prequels to the original series.

Other ITV HD highlights on Freesat include films such as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Champions League and FA Cup football.

Speaking exclusively to DigitalSpy, James Atkins, Freesat Trade Marketing Manager has said that providing more HD channels is without doubt on the agenda for Freesat, citing high-definition as a “key benefit” of the platform.

Freesat has been running since May 2008 initially launching with just BBC HD, and since adding ITV HD on an exclusive red button service. Now realising there is a huge call for more high-definition content, Freesat are urging broadcasters to consider launching HD channels. James Atkins said;

So we are very much actively building with our channels to say ‘come on guys, 80% of our sales are for HD products, there are 15 million HD TVs sold in the UK and there is a big appetite for HD. You guys need to be stepping up to the plate and putting some stuff on in HD’. So that is something that we are actively getting involved in.

When asked about the recent announcement of ITV1 HD launching on Freeview by the end of the year, James stated that whilst ITV have not confirmed their channel will be available on Freesat (we had been told differently by another member of Freesat’s team) as a replacement service to the red button, they would expect it to be so given ITV is an public broadcaster;

I think that we would expect to receive a full simulcast of ITV1 in high definition, although there is no commitment at this stage, [...] But as it’s from a public service broadcaster then we would expect it to become available.

Read more on this story over at DigitalSpy.

ITV have today announced the planned launch of ITV1 HD, which is said to be in place by the end of the year when Freeview switch-over begins. The channel has also been confirmed as being available from the off on the Freesat platform, whilst no agreement is yet in place with Sky or Virgin Media.

ITV1 HD will run in a similar manner to how C4 HD currently is, with simulcast programmes and up to an expected 50% of peak-time programming in native HD by 2010, and 70% by 2014.

This channel is said to replace the current red button ITV HD service, although no definite date has been given for this. We’d like to think that our post helped make this decision, although we suspect it had been planned for some time.

Just a quick mention for our ITV HD Schedule page, which provides up to date listings on all programmes available in high-definition on ITV HD’s red button service. The latest schedule includes:

Wednesday 5th August 2009 (7.30pm) Grimefighters (documentary)
Thursday 6th August 2009 (9.00pm) The Bill
Friday 7th August 2009 (10.35pm) The Bill (repeat)
Friday 7th August 2009 (11.35pm) Ned Kelly (film)
Saturday 8th August 2009 (11.35pm) Blue Crush
Tuesday 11th August 2009 (7.30pm) Grimefighters
Thursday 13th August 2009 (9.00pm) The Bill
Friday 14th August 2009 (10.35pm) The Bill (repeat)
Saturday 15th August 2009 (3.40pm) The Scorpion King (film)
Saturday 15th August 2009 (6.50pm) King Kong (film)
Tuesday 18th August 2009 (7.30pm) Grimefighters
Wednesday 19th August 2009 (7.30pm) Champions League (tbc)
Thursday 20th August 2009 (9.00pm) The Bill
Friday 21st August 2009 (10.35pm) The Bill (repeat)
Friday 21st August 2009 (11.35pm) Family Plot (film)

Visit the ITV HD Schedule page for the updated version

Lets hope so, as nothing appears to be happening in the world of Freesat at the moment!

We just wanted to let you know we are still here, still pushing for little nuggets of information to share with you.

It would seem that Freesat are presently spending quite a lot of time assisting in the Digital Switch-Over (DSO), which happens this year in the Granada, West Country, Borders and Welsh regions. Freesat’s primary aim is to ensure that those areas without access to terrestrial reception via Freeview have another option to avoid a blank screen come the end of analogue.

BBC iPlayer continues in its development and an Autumn launch still seems likely, although we’d expect a late Autumn launch given that beta testing is expected in August; of which we are hoping to be part of.

There appears to be a lack of additional FTA (free-to-air) channels coming forward on the Freesat platform of late, with talkSPORT the last to be introduced back on the 19th May. BET HD made an appearance most recently but only for the BET Awards 2009; but it gave us an insight into the potential opportunities for broadcasters that don’t have permanent high-definition channels in the UK to showcase specific events.

We await the latest quarterly figures for Freesat sales, although it has been hinted that 500,000 has been surpassed which is a fantastic achievement in little over a year.

ITV HD appear to be retaining a fairly regular appearance of programmes in high-definition, although still far short of that of the BBC with 9 HD hours per day. ITV sadly continue to avoid wanting to make comment on our fairly conclusive poll of 94% of voters (2,130 to date) longing for a proper ITV HD channel rather than the current red button.

As soon as we get just a sliver of news on Freesat we’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, please do continue to visit other parts of our site including the digital box and television product pages, plus polls, channel listings and ITV HD schedule.

Following the announcement that The Bill would be in stunning high-definition on the ITV HD service, ITV seem to have failed in the first week with this evenings episode not flagging the red button prompt required to access the HD feed.

Yesterdays episode (the first part of two) was available with an improved picture over what many have been use to from this long running drama, but alas, the success was short lived.

At least if ITV HD was run as a separate channel like C4 HD (not yet available on Freesat) fans could have enjoyed an up-scaled version rather than just standard-definition.

ITV blame a technical error;

Unfortunately, last night’s episode of ‘The Bill’ did not broadcast in HD as advertised due to a technical problem at ITV. ITV are looking into the matter and apologise for any disappointment caused.

Freesat themselves must be bitterly disappointed following additional promotion carried out in the last few weeks.

As of the 1st July 2009 The Bill will grace the high-definition stage on ITV HD twice per week. This is an additional boost for ITV who have clearly increased their HD output over the past few weeks. Fans of The Bill with a HD Ready television and Freesat HD digital box will be able to press the red button and enjoy this long running drama in crystal clear picture and sound.

Additional highlights over the next couple of weeks include Wimbledon, the 2004 hit staring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany; plus drama’s such as The Royal and Kingdom. A full schedule can be found here.

It would appear from looking at the next 2 weeks listings that ITV have dramatically increased the number of programmes on their high-definition service, available to all Freesat HD owners via the red button.

With approx. 26 hours of HD in the next 2 weeks; it is still a long way off the BBC’s standard 9 hours per day, but it is a noticeable difference we thought was worth a mention, so make sure you get your fill of HD over the next few weeks!

Have the look at the latest schedule for ITV HD

We were recently given the opportunity to present questions to Freesat on those topics we felt were of most interest to you; it was a little bit of rush to send them in so didn’t have the opportunity this time to ask what you wanted to know, but from reading through comments, we came up with the questions below which Freesat have kindly answers. No ground breaking responses unfortunately, especially on those questions related to the broadcasters as we’d need to hear from them directly; but worth a read anyway.

We had requested this FAQ session from noticing the change in viewers perceptive on what they now required from Freesat one year on; more HD content being top of most viewer’s wish lists, as well as increased product lines with new exciting products. We made the point to Freesat that the next year will be even more important than the first, not only in obtaining new customers but retaining existing ones too; we are sure they’ll be doing all they can to make Freesat even better, but don’t forget they are actively visiting this site so by all means leave your comments.

ITV HD had been promoted as “exclusive to Freesat” to help encourage uptake; what are Freesat’s thoughts on Sky now having access to ITV HD via the new EPG software? Have ITV HD decided upon a more open policy or should this not have been made possible? What are the potential impacts on Freesat uptake?

ITV HD remains an exclusive red button service on freesat. It is not listed on any Sky EPG and is only available to a small number of boxes via a complicated manual tune / scan.

HD sales have been a large percentage of all Freesat sales (approx. 80%). Could the reason for this as well as the obvious be that SD boxes have been so hard to obtain from Alba Group? Have Freesat been made aware of such lack of availability and are you doing anything to assist?

HD receivers have made up the majority of freesat sales from day one. We work closely with both manufacturers and retailers to try and ensure sufficient stock of all Freesat approved products is readily available. We are aware that recent demand for SD boxes has been high, particularly in some rural areas and those places to receive Freeview. As mentioned on Join Freesat, we are confident that increased volumes of stock will help meet the demand.

Are any other manufacturers in the frame for developing Freesat products (except Sony)? What restrictions are on current manufacturers?

All freesat products go through a strict product development process that enables freesat and partner manufacturers to maintain the highest quality of freesat approved receivers. We are in regular conversation with manufacturers across the industry and plan to launch new products later this year.

What was the original target figure for sales in the first 12 months? What is the target for the next 12 months?

Our sales targets are not public but we can confirm that we exceeded first year forecasts and are on course for continuing this strong growth through 2009.

Why wasn’t 200 channels reached when originally suggested for the first year?

The economic outlook has changed significantly since the early part of 2008 and it’s a challenging market for channels, retailers and manufacturers. We’ve already grown our line-up from around 80 channels at launch a year ago to over 140 today. We’re continuing to add channels all the time and will be launching IPTV catch-up and on-demand services in the future.

Why content of HD programming remains relatively small, especially from ITV?

HD TV production and distribution still remain expensive for broadcasters. Despite this Freesat shows up to 70 hours of HD programming per week for free. BBC HD has increased its scheduled hours twice since launch and is planning to increase them further in 2009. ITV shows peaktime programming in HD most nights of the week and is increasing the amount of HD programming available this year.

What are Freesat doing to pursue the possibility of additional channels joining, especially those such as C4HD, Fiver and Five US?

Freesat works tirelessly to bring more channels onto the platform. We’re committed to growing the amount of HD programming on Freesat and are in regular contact with broadcasters including Channel 4 and Five.