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BBC to Begin Offering HDTV Programs

The BBC plans to test high-definition delivery of its programs to cable and satellite TV providers, as well as on digital terrestrial TV, in the U.K. in mid-2006. The HDTV trial is expected to last a year; the BBC said it plans to offer all of its programming in HDTV format by 2010, when the U.K. digital TV transition will be complete.

The BBC added that it hopes to offer live sporting events, such as the World Cup, in high-definition as part of the trial. "Our promise to our license payers is to give them the highest quality television, so the time is right for the BBC to get involved in high definition," BBC director of television Jana Bennett told BBC News Online.

"High definition may take time to grow in Britain, but as with the other technologies we helped to build, the BBC wants to prepare now to be able to deliver the benefits of HDTV to all its license payers in the long term."

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