HDTV services are available in many countries around the world. Australia, Japan and the United States lead with their HDTV offerings.
HD-quality services are already available across all the television platforms, from satellite via cable and nowadays already to terrestrial.
In Europe, HDTV services have only recently begun. The first service was launched in 2004 on the satellite platform and since then an increasing number of satellite operators have launched HDTV services in various European markets, as have some cable and IPTV operators.
Satellite platform
In January 2004, Euro 1080 was the first operator to launch HDTV services, offering a combination of free and pay-per view content across Europe. Since then, other satellite operators have launched HDTV services all over Europe, for example in France, Germany, Italy, the Nordics, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. There is a high call for these services in the United Kingdom, too, with the satellite platform operator BSkyB asserting that Sky HD is its fastest-selling additional TV product ever.
The HDTV services have been offered on a pay basis although the public service broadcasters have generally made their HDTV services available for free. This has been the case in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In Germany, several commercial operators have also offered free HDTV services, although it is not known if they will remain free-of-charge in the future.
Cable platform
At the end of 2006, HDTV services were already available in Germany, the Nordic countries and the United Kingdom. These all are pay subscription services.
IPTV platform
Limited HD services are available on the IPTV platforms in Europe. As it is a relatively new platform, IPTV has not yet launched in all countries nor attained a high level of household penetration. However, in countries where IPTV service penetration is relatively high, such as in case of France and Germany, IPTV service operators have begun launching HD services.
Terrestrial platform
At this stage, limited HD services are available on the terrestrial television platform (HD/ DTT). In Sweden, HD content from the public service broadcaster SVT is available in several cities while the Spanish regional broadcaster, TV3, offers several hours of HD content per day in Barcelona. In France, the new media framework which was approved in February 2007, calls for the launch of HDTV services and the CSA (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel) in June 2007 started the process of inviting applicants for two HDTV services to be offered nationwide on digital multiplex R5. Proposals were required to provide a minimum of 25 per cent native HDTV services in 2008 increasing to 30 per cent in 2009 and so on.
In many countries, HD/DTT services have been demonstrated as part of showcase trials associated with a festival or sporting event as has been the case in France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.