Sky HD advance orders hit 40,000

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB will begin installing its high-definition television boxes in the UK and Ireland on 22 May, after receiving 40,000 advance orders since 13 April when the UK’s dominant pay-TV supplier began taking bookings from the general public.

The number of orders for the long-awaited service is higher than the total number of sales of the Sky+ personal video recorder in its first year.

The buzz surrounding Sky HD—which promises pictures four times sharper than standard definition and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound—has seen sales forecasts for this year rise from 1.4m units to 2m, with the cumulative total expected to be 2.7m at the end of 2006.

Sky HD will also launch its programming line-up on 22 May. Highlights for the day and the rest of the month include live Test match cricket between England and Sri Lanka, and the Guinness Premiership rugby union final. There will also be US drama series 24 and Rescue Me, and a number of recent hit movies such as 2005’s final Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith, and the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit In The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

Sky HD will cost £10 per month in addition to a Sky digital subscription (currently priced between £15 and £42.50 per month). Subscribers will also pay £299 for set-top box that will incorporate a 160GB hard drive, allowing them to record 30 hours of high-definition programmes or 80 hours of standard definition content using the full functionality of Sky+.

Last month, the satellite broadcaster offered HD customers £100 cash back on new Sony BRAVIA HD Ready TVs as part of a marketing tie-up between Sky and Sony UK.

Of all televisions sold in February 2006 with a screen of 26 inches or larger, 46% were HD-ready, compared to just 3.4% in the same period a year earlier.