Sky will reach a new High Definition (HD) milestone this summer by exceeding the 40 HD channel mark. The launch of ITV1 HD, Hallmark Channel HD and Sky Sports HD 4 will extend Sky’s HD leadership to 40 HD channels, five times more than any other HD service. Sky will also be launching Europe’s first HD news channel, Sky News HD, in the coming months, which will further increase the channel count.

The addition of ITV1 HD from 2nd April means Sky+HD homes across in England and Wales will be able to watch World Cup matches live in HD, as well as other major ITV shows such as Law and Order: UK, The Prisoner, Foyles War, Lewis, Survival with Ray Mears, and Britain’s Got Talent.

Hallmark Channel HD will showcase a range of its most popular titles in HD for the first time, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Without A Trace. The channel will join the Sky platform on the 28th June.

Launching on 29th April, Sky Sports HD 4 will enable Sky Sports to build on its 9,200 hours a year of live sport in HD. This year will be the busiest ever for HD content on Sky Sports, with the schedule including The Ryder Cup, The Ashes, Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Heineken Cup and Guinness Premiership rugby plus US Open tennis.

Hilary Perchard, Sky’s Director of Product Management, commented: “It’s great news for customers that we are making our HD channel pack even better value with more high quality channels. We’re seeing record demand for HD, both in terms of the number of customers signing up for Sky+HD and the amount of HD programmes they are watching. While other TV platforms are only now recognising the growing demand for HD, we’re excited to extend our leadership even further by offering more choice to our customers. We look forward to reaching our next milestone, of 50 HD channels, by Christmas.”

Via EPR Network
More Entertainment press releases