Dutch public broadcaster NOS hopes to offer a full HD version of its sports coverage from the Beijing Olympic Games and the Euro 2008 football championships to Dutch cable operators, but so far discussions about the conditions of such an offer have yet to start between the parties concerned.
There is pressure on European broadcasters from consumer electronics manufacturers to launch regular HD services as soon as possible. A number of public broadcasters, including ARD, ZDF and ORF, have committed to HD coverage of these events, but a spokesperson from the Dutch public broadcasters said: “we hope to offer it, but we haven’t even started talking.”
Last year the public broadcaster was heavily criticised for offering the FIFA World Cup games just in 4:3 SD quality, which prompted premium channel Sport1 to broadcast the games in 16:9.
