You can probably tell by the fact I use the wrong terms I ain’t a regular of this board and do not know much about DT (there Iv’e said it).
..but how much will it be to get the decent channels on digital terrestrial? The news items only really mention the channels I currently get for free (okay there are some more, but they are poor). I’m really loooking forward to seeing the new series of Buffy on Sky 1
From the AVForums
Telewest customers can look forward to a feast of football in stunning high definition (HDTV), thanks to new agreements with ITV and the BBC which mean every World Cup match will be available in the crystal clear broadcast format.
Only Telewest customers, plus a few hundred terrestrial HD triallists, will have access to all the games in high definition, offering pictures around four times sharper than standard digital TV.
Promising a summer packed with high definition entertainment, ntl Telewest has also signed a third deal with Channel 4. Telewest customers with a TVDrive, the company’s HD-ready personal video recorder, can look forward to a new high definition line-up that includes:
BBC trial HDTV broadcasts – Live coverage of World Cup matches and Wimbledon tennis, plus spectacular series like Planet Earth and classic Dickens drama Bleak House. Forthcoming family drama Robin Hood, The Proms and Later with Jools Holland are also among highlights of the trial, which is due to last around a year. Visit www.bbc.co.uk/hd for more details.
ITV trial HDTV broadcasts -Live coverage of World Cup football will start from 9 June. Viewers will also get documentaries including the epic new wildlife series Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Adventures, classic films like All Quiet on the Western Front and the Big Sleep, plus drama including Agatha Christie’s Poirot specials Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia — all courtesy of Granada International. Visit www.itv.co/hd for more information.
On demand programmes from Channel 4 -Episodes from Seasons One and Two of the Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Touchstone Television series Lost and Desperate Housewives will also be on offer from a virtual video library of high definition programmes, giving instant access at the touch of a button.
The new content will join existing high definition programmes available via Telewest’s TV on demand service, including The Blue Planet, Super Volcano and Pride, courtesy of BBC Worldwide.
Philip Snalune, Managing Director Consumer Products, said: “The beautiful game is about to get a serious makeover. Telewest customers with TVDrive will be able to watch every World Cup game in stunning high definition and, for those who aren’t gripped by England’s exploits, we’re also lining up a feast of alternative HD entertainment.”
Great satire article on Sky’s decision (after piling on the pressure over the Beeb’s decision not to broadcast the humantarian appeal for Gaza) not to broadcast itself – for the same reasons. This image sums it up :-
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wi3bZllYbY…ngenuous-l.jpg
Radical broadcaster Sky News comes out of hiding – from behind Auntie’s skirts
Quote:
The world’s leading source of news from Rupert Murdoch today slipped a press release out from under the BBC’s protective skirts and admitted that it wasn’t prepared to show the Gaza appeal for humanitarian aid either.
“Sky News has reviewed the DEC appeal and can confirm that there is nothing in it about Rupert Murdoch or his interests,” said a spokesman for Sky News. “This is a question of being absolutely impartial in our output and we simply aren’t.”
The announcement was met with headlines and opinion from other News Corporation sources, a selection are given below:-
“Israeli attack on Gaza – undamaged Murdoch empire requires no aid” – The Times
“Gaza residents – Free Sky Plus box with every dish installed on your rubble.” – The Sun
“BBC boobs reveals Sky’s tits” – News of the World
continues at http://www.surrealscoop.com/2009/01/…comes-out.html
It’s often pointed out how the fragmentation of viewers for commercial channels is killing those commercial channels.
Unless you want endless reality shows and soaps that is.
But I also think it’s bad for the BBC.
You only have to look at the audiences the BBC is getting now (top shows getting 5 to 7million viewers, most shows getting far far less) to see that it looks ridiculous that they get billions to provide programming to so few people.
What kept the BBC going was this idea that “it’s for everyone – paid for by everyone” but while everyone is still paying it’s clear that few people are watching.
I’ve just been checking the premier league fixture for the next few weeks, and was surprised to find that Setanta were showing the Merseyside Derby. This surpises me as an big match which Sky usually show.
I aware that Sky have the first pick for every round (weekend) of the Premier league, and the majority of second round picks, but Setanta also have some second round picks. What I’m interested in, is how do they decide which round Sky have the second round pick, and which rounds Setanta has. I can only think next weekend is one of the weekend Setanta have the second round pick, and that why they chosen the Merseyside Derby (although I would still say in an first pick)/
QUOTE FROM THEIR SITE…
‘Today TVPolari is in it’s infancy but growing rapidly. We are working with different teams within the gay community all over the UK and intenationally to try and source the greatest gay content produced. Working to provide you the viewer with a network of channels that you want to watch, we want to hear your views. Ideas? Content? Something to advertise? ‘ end of quote
This is a groundbreaking project that aims to draw the audience outside of the ‘GAY’ scene….ie
Top Geyer…my first thought was…oh yeah pink fluffy dice…pink cadilac…the usual stereotypical thoughts and what we already have on terrestial TV….flashing through my head….and to my surprise it was a serious show!!…
this is a great concept that should be fun, informational and educational.
You can get TV Polari via www.something.info which is the set top box, www.gouktv.com, or even
www.tvpolari.com on your internet
You don’t have to be ‘gay’ to enjoy this channel….BUT IT HELPS 
LOL
I don’t know how far in advance deals for this sort of event are done, so if I’m posting too early or something sorry for that.
Does anyone know who, if anyone, will be showing EuroBasket? Bearing in mind GB actually qualifying, GB being represented in 2012 and the team being on an upswing, in addition to it getting a bit more funding the BBC might be interested as they have the Olympics? They have started mentioning it more … it’s probably wishful thinking though 
With Woolworths calling in the administrators and potential loss of 30,000 UK jobs and a recession looming, what would happen if this happened to major commercial broadcaster? ie. ITV or Five.
Would their licences be readvertised, the business split-up and sold off to the highest bidder or possibly nationalised?
From the Telegraph:
“The “old-fashioned thoroughness and commitment” which he encountered in his early days with the Corporation have long disappeared he said.
The Radio 2 presenter, whose career with the Corporation stretches back over 40 years, said staff no longer held a job with the BBC in high esteem.
“When I started, people who worked for the BBC knew they weren’t earning as much as people in commercial television, but they did have the satisfaction of knowing that they worked for one of the finest, if not the finest, broadcasting organisation in the whole world. I’m not sure they feel that any more, or at least that it means as much as it used to,” Wogan said.
Illustrating the way times have changed, Wogan recalled getting his big break in the 1960s: “When I sent in my first tape to the head of Gramophone Programmes at the BBC, I had made the fatal mistake of forgetting to rewind it to the start. Yet that gentleman took the time to wind it all the way back, and once he’d listened to it, things went from there.
“I can tell you, if I was a young chap coming over from Ireland today, they probably wouldn’t even listen to my tape, let alone rewind. Somehow, that old-fashioned thoroughness and commitment have disappeared. I suppose no-one has the time for it any more.”
He also lambasted modern presenters “who just read out the autocue without any of their own personality and with these awful glazed eyes, like a seagull’s”, although he declined to name the offenders.”
Well with the big hitters slamming the BBC seemingly on a daily basis, it looks like aunty is heading for a death by a thousand cuts. 
does anyone know who will be broadcasting it this year? I really enjoyed it on challenge tv last year.