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Originally Posted by david.ewles
This whole HD lark is a joke. asian countries have had it for nearly 10 years.
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IIRC the main reason the HD has been held back in this country is that a few years ago (about 1994), when the government started looking at licencing the digital frequencies, they offered the various companies an option to broadcast channels in HD or SD (standard definition). The BBC just went ahead and started installing HD equipment, but the independant TV companies (and in particular, Sky*) said they didn't want it as it was too expensive,
The TV companies in America were more receptive as they can use a lot of the same equipment in film making (most people can't spot the difference between HD video and film even on a large screen), so the cost for them is effectively lower than Standard definition.
*Traditionally, Sky haven't been interested in a technology unless they can use it as a unique selling point. Until a couple of years ago, they didn't broadcast widescreen transmissions on their own channels.