BBC to broadcast World Cup football in high def

[Bob Crabtree]

The BBC is to broadcast its 2006 World Cup football coverage in high definition as part of a year-long HD trial. Major Wimbledon matches will also be shown in HD, as will the Planet Earth and Galapagos natural history series; the Hannibal drama documentary; and some BBC Proms concerts, including first and last nights.

Things get underway on Monday May 15 with a test stream previewing forthcoming programmes. The first HD transmission of a live event will be of the opening World Cup match - Germany v Costa Rica - on Friday June 9. All of the BBC's allocation of World Cup matches will go out in HD, including, of course, the final on July 9, and be followed by selected Wimbledon matches from Centre Court and Court One.

Auntie's HD broadcasts will only be accessible to viewers who have HD services - via satellite from Sky or via cable from NTL or Telewest (or whatever the joint company will now be called). They'll also need HD ready TV sets, in addition to the HD set-top boxes that will be provided as part of the satellite or cable HD services.

Find out more in this HEXUS.headline, and let us know how you feel about Auntie's HD plans.

[Alex]

Speaking of which...

Sky HD is out for pre-order

[Bob Crabtree]

Yup, our news headline is here.

It does seem as though Sky had been holding out from making this announcement on pricing and availability until the BBC had built a little foundation for it based on the World Cup football.

Bob