ITV HD is a British free-to-airhigh-definition television channel operated by ITV plc, the company which is contracted to provide 11 ITV services across the UK. ITV HD is available to view in England, Wales and the Scottish Borders on Freesat via channel 111, Freeview channel 103, Sky channel 176, Virgin Media channel 113 and in Switzerland on SwisscomTV. From 2 April 2010, ITV HD became a standard channel available on all digital platforms.
History
2006 trial
The channel originally existed on a trial basis from June until November 2006, primarily to show the World Cup games to which ITV had the rights. The channel was available to subscribers of the TelewestTV Drive cable service and was also broadcast as a low-power digital terrestrial channel from London's Crystal Palace Transmitter as part of a terrestrial HDTV trial involving 450 homes. ITV HD did not broadcast on satellite television, unlike BBC HD. It was available on Telewest channel 118 and Freeview channel 503 in homes which were involved in the HD trial. In addition to the World Cup games, ITV HD showed classic films remastered in HD, documentaries and dramas such as Poirot. The original ITV HD stopped broadcasting on 30 November 2006.
2008 launch
High definition broadcasts from ITV plc launched exclusively on Freesat, the new digital satellite service from the BBC and ITV on 7 June 2008, just in time for the start of UEFA Euro 2008. ITV plc planned to spend £10m during 2008 on the launch of ITV HD.
Freeview and 2009 rebrand
ITV HD became ITV1 HD when it relaunched for Freeview HD on 2 December 2009. It continued to operate on Freesat as a red button service on select programming. ITV1 HD aimed to include 35% 'native HD' content at the start of 2010, rising to at least 60% at the start of 2012 and at least 70% at the start of 2014. In the early years, the service will focus on sport and drama content, over time it is expected that the majority of other genres to convert to native HD. ITV1 HD operated from 18:00 to 23:00 seven days a week. From August 2009, ITV began testing a HD simulcast of ITV Granada on satellite, before later switching to ITV London. On 26 November 2009, the ITV1 HD logo appeared as a digital on-screen graphic during programming and the off air station identification.
2010 launch as a standard channel
On 12 March 2010, it was announced that ITV1 HD would become a standard channel on 2 April 2010, simulcasting the main ITV1 channel, and launching on Sky and Virgin Media, as well as switching from a red button interactive service to a full-time channel on Freesat. It continues to only be available in ITV plc owned ITV franchise areas, covering England, Wales and the Scottish Borders area, though red button access on ITV1 London remains in place. The launch coincided with the closure of Men & Motors. During March 2010, Ofcom issued broadcast licences for six regional variations of ITV1 HD, with Central, Granada/Border and Meridian/Anglia regions joining London/LWT in June 2010. Some variations had only available on a free-to-view basis on satellite, Freesat viewers in those regions are instead given either the Granada/Border or London/LWT variation. However, Meridian became free-to-air in September 2012 with Central following in October 2012. On 14 January 2013, ITV1 HD received a new logo and went back to its former name, "ITV HD", as part of a rebranding of ITV's television channels and online services. On 25 August 2015, ITV Cymru Wales became available on HD. On 31 March 2016, a further three ITV regions were made available in HD via satellite, ITV Anglia, ITV Tyne Tees, and ITV Yorkshire.. As of March 2020, the service is still not available in the Channel Islands.
Technical problems
''Harley Street''
ITV HD's first HD drama broadcast of Harley Street reportedly suffered technical problems including picture and sound quality and failing to revert to the normal ITV broadcast after the programme had finished. Also, several Digital Spy forum members reported that they could not access HD content via the red button due to the ITV HD service "only being available through the London region".
On 12 June 2010, ITV HD cut off England's first 2010 FIFA World Cup game inadvertently into an advert break for 25 seconds, as a result, missing their first World Cup 2010 goal. This interruption also caused the remaining transmission to be in standard-definition. The standard definition ITV broadcasts did not miss the goal, scored by Steven Gerrard. ITV had already said it was not to blame for the problem, which was pinned on human error at Technicolor, the firm which provides transmission. On 23 August 2010, Ofcom cleared ITV over the "unfortunate error", despite receiving 823 complaints. After reviewing the situation, Ofcom acknowledged the frustration of ITV HD viewers at the transmission break, but decided that ITV's actions to resolve the situation had been sufficient.
''The X Factor''
On 12 November 2011, a power failure at the BT Tower resulted in the loss of ITV HD, the channel froze during Harry Hill's TV Burp and continued throughout The X Factor live show. ITV in standard definition was unable to show live footage and instead aired re-runs of participants' auditions until the problem was fixed 15 minutes later. Although the standard definition channel began to work after 15 minutes, ITV HD Granada was still frozen although ITV HD London seemed to work.
