BBC Two HD will launch at 6am on Tuesday March 26, the BBC has confirmed.
The channel will replace the existing BBC HD channel in the UK market, in line with the transition originally announced as part of the Delivering Quality First budget proposals.
BBC Two HD will be available on Sky HD (169), Freeview HD/YouView (102), Virgin Media (187), Freesat HD (109) and BT Vision (852).
The BBC Two HD channel will be a simulcast network version of the BBC Two schedule with a raft of new programmes available in HD for the first time including Paul Hollywood – Bread, The Fall, Science Britannica and Keeping Britain Alive. Old favourites such as Mock the Week, QI and Springwatch will also be shown in the HD format.
Janice Hadlow, controller, BBC Two said: “BBC One HD has already proved to be highly valued by our audiences and I’m delighted that we’re able to follow this with the launch of BBC Two in HD. The launch of BBC Two HD will allow us to showcase more of our programmes at their very best – helping to highlight our commitment to high quality, engaging and ambitious programmes on BBC Two.”
The BBC HD channel launched in December 2007 as the UK’s first free-to-air high definition channel. Subsequently the BBC One HD channel was launched on November 3, 2010.
BBC HD has been drawing heavily on BBC Two, Three and Four, but under DQF, the latter two channels will operate more as feeders to BBC One and BBC Two respectively.
In recent weeks versions of BBC One HD have been launched for the national regions of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
