Freeview HD broadcasts by Christmas

The BBC has confirmed that Freeview HD broadcasts will begin in the month of December in the cities of Manchester and Liverpool according to the Head of Distribution Technology at BBC Operations Graham Plumb.

The official date of launch for Freeview in these two cities is December 2nd when the Winter Hill transmitter will switch the HD signal that is available for free.

Eventually, Freeview HD will reach the entire area of the UK, but there is no official timetable yet released for this process.

Plumb added that the BBC plans to upgrade the Freeview HD Crystal Palace transmitter in December, even though London is not officially scheduled to switchover to digital from analogue until 2012.

Currently Freeview in standard definition uses MPEG 2 in order to encode content, but will switch to MPEG 4 codec to transmit its Freeview HD broadcasting over the DVB-T2 digital broadcasting system.

In order to receive Freeview HD from the BBC, users will need set-top boxes and some customers may need to purchase new aerials and television sets depending on the age of their current sets.

Plumb also stated that the BBC plans to upgrade four other transmitters during the beginning of year, but the BBC is not ready to announce which ones until the plans are in place.

It is estimated that the London area will receive Freeview HD by the time the 2010 South African World Cup takes place.

Ofcom has announced the complete upgrade will be available across the UK by 2012 before the London Olympics.

Freeview HD will offer four BBC channels: BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in 720p.