ITV launches HD service

ITV has announced the launch of its high-definition (HD) service to cater for viewers of Euro 2008.

Despite no home nations qualifying for the finals of the football tournament, ITV HD showed its first broadcast on June 7th.

The development brings the broadcaster in line with the BBC, which is also showing matches in HD alongside its standard transmission.

Jonathan Rogers, director of operations for ITV Channels, says: “We’re delighted to be able to launch the ITV HD service in time for the European Championships.”

He adds: “Our HD service will be easily accessible by pressing the red button during existing ITV programming.”

This means no need to manually switch to the relevant channel for the HD service, Mr Rogers adds.

Meanwhile, he reveals that movies and drama premieres are to feature in HD as the service expands.

The BBC asserts that BBC HD was the first free-to-air channel in the UK to transmit HD images, with programming scheduled from 20:00 to midnight.