The BBC will tomorrow (Wednesday) the upgrade of its regional services in England broadcast via Freeview and YouView to high definition broadcasts.
It follows the completion of the satellite upgrade that means regional programming is now available in HD, along with the rest of the BBC One schedule, at 101 in the Electronic Programme Guides.
“Making BBC One HD available on a regional basis is a major undertaking for BBC teams and our suppliers, so we are going to launch regional versions of BBC One HD in two phases. This allows us to launch the first set of regions as early as possible while we complete the preparatory work to enable us to launch the second set,” explained Kieran Clifton, director, BBC Distribution & Business Development.
The changes mean an end to the ‘Red Slate’, the rotating graphic based around the BBC One logo, which advised viewers to go to channel 1 for local programming, as viewers will no longer need to switch to channel 1 for local news and then back to 101 for BBC One in HD.
Standard definition broadcasts for BBC One will continue where no HD alternative is available.
The two phase upgrade will start with East Midlands, West Midlands, East Yorks & Lincs, London, Channel Islands, Yorkshire. After a pause, this will be followed by North East & Cumbria, North West, West, South West, South (incl. Oxford), East (incl. Cambridge) and South East.
Once the Freeview and YouView upgrade has completed there will be an update the newer Freeview Play devices that are connected to the internet. This will put BBC One HD at the top of the EPG, at channel 1, on supported TVs when they’re connected to the internet.
The final place we need to ensure BBC One HD for the English regions is fully available is on BBC iPlayer.
