Perhaps it's a knock on effect of the global rescession, but the latest report by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has found that TV viewing is at the highest it has been in 18 years.

Viewers watched an average of 3.75 hours of TV a day last year, the highest figure since 1992, according to IPA research.

As one would expect to find, the first and last quarters of the year, with less daylight and fewer people away on holiday, tended to show the highest television viewing figures.

Interestingly, the IPA revealed that only 8.2 % of UK households relied on an analogue signal to catch their favourite shows, showing that the digital switch-over is almost complete.

While ITV and GMTV gathered 19% of the total television audience in the last three months of 2009, likely thanks to the popularity of the X-Factor, BBC1 continued to achieve the highest share of all the terrestrial channels, at 21%. All five analogue channels continue to lose ground however, as multi-channel satellite options grow in prominence.

Ever seen a rugby player's cauliflower ear in high-definition? Well now you can, free of charge, thanks to Freesat HD and the BBC HD channel.

The annual 6 Nations rugby tournament will be broadcast on BBC HD from February 6th until the 20th of March, with Ireland and Italy squaring up in the first match.

Sport fans can also look forward to The World Cup on the BBC HD channel and ITV1 HD, as well as Winter Olympics, Golf Masters, Wimbledon, FA Cup and UEFA Champions league matches.

For more info, check out www.freesat.co.uk.

As if you weren't already sick of snow as it is, Freesat have today confirmed that you'll be able to watch all the coverage from this years 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics in high-definition, at no extra charge.

The HD coverage kicks off on the 12th February with the game's grand opening ceremony.

It looks set to be a good year for sport-loving Freesat owners. The World Cup, Golf Masters, Rugby Six Nations and Wimbledon will all be available on the BBC HD Channel with the FA Cup, England World Cup internationals and UEFA Champions league matches also being presented in high definition over on ITV1 HD.

For more info, visit www.freesat.co.uk.

The message boards over at our Shiny friends HDTVUK have been alight with readers venting their spleens over the new-look Sky + HD Guide, which completed its nationwide roll-out last week.

Many of you have been complaining that the new Sky Guide isn't up to scratch, either running too slowly, not being particularly intuitive or with text too small to read.

Alex Foligno posted on December 17th:

SERIOUSLY AWFUL the greatest injusticed (sic) is the fact that non-HD (lower paying customers) have the classic menu which we have all loved for the past decade. A CLASSIC option would be much appreciated.

James followed up with a similar sentiment:

I thought I would give it a go for a week before I complained as I thought it would grow on me. I was wrong. I still hate it. I want the old one back. The old one was straight forward and easy to use. This one is just a mess. It really puts me off watching TV.

Some readers have had such difficulty reading the new guide that they have contacted the Royal National Institute of Blind People, believing the new guide to be an affront to accessibility for the visually impaired.

Your complaints have not fallen upon death ears completely however! A Sky customer services representative today confirmed to HDTVUK that visually impaired Sky viewers will be able to revert back to the previous Sky + EPG if they wish. However Sky + HD subscribers will have to downgrade to a Sky + box in order to get the old guide back. This may be however just a temporary solution, as all Sky boxes, including earlier models, are expected to take on the new look guide sooner rather than later.

What do you think? Should all Sky +HD subscribers be given the option to revert back to the previous guide? Or are the complaints all smoke and no fire, with the guide being well suited to your needs?

Let us know!

(Thanks to HDTVUK reader Mark for the tip!)

BSkyB will go no further towards making their content available free on Google's YouTube, the Daily Telegraph have revealed today.

The news comes as another twist in the saga between Richard Murdoch's News Corp (majority stakeholders in Sky) and YouTube owners Google. News Corp have previously labelled Google as "parasites" and "thieves" for what they consider is the unfair distribution of their news content.

Sky were beginning to warm to the idea of distributing full length shows on YouTube, but have decided that the content would have to come at a price. With YouTube as yet unprepared to put a premium on content found on their site, it appears that Murdoch and co. are attempting to hammer home their mantra that no good journalism comes free of charge.

A Sky spokesman said: "The pay model is at the heart of our business and allows us to invest significantly in high-quality, distinctive content."

Sky do offer an online video-on-demand service, their Sky Player. However, the Sky Player is only available to those who already have a subscription with the Pay TV merchants.

Though Google refused to comment directly on negotiations with Sky, a spokesman said: "We are, of course, always talking to rights holders large and small about the distribution and revenue opportunities for their content on YouTube."

Via: The Daily Telegraph

The first technical transmissions of Freeview HD have begun today.

The Winter Hill transmitter group is currently beaming broadcasts to select areas of Manchester, with the Crystal Palace group doing the same for pockets of London. They are the first in the world to adopt the DVB-T2 standard and MPEG-4.

James Jackson, BBC head of broadcast infrastructure carried out a demonstration live at the BBC Media Centre. Promotional cuts from BBC HD and ITV HD broadcast by the Crystal Hill group were displayed using brand new IDTV's manufactured by Sony and Panasonic. Both channels were fully incorporated into the Freeview electronic programme guide.

Though the BBC broadcast was the same as is currently available on Freesat, ITV's offering was currently just an upscaled broadcast of the ITV1 channel. ITV have committed however to broadcast most of their top peak programme scheduling in full HD as the service becomes more widespread.

The BBC hope to have a national coverage of 50% for Freeview HD in time for the 2010 World Cup, reaching its maximum 98.5% national coverage by late 2012. Channel 4 also hope to launch a Freeview HD channel in the new year, with as many as five other HD channels in the wings from the network.

For news of when your area will be receiving Freeview HD broadcasts, click here.

Sky have confirmed they are testing a 3D outside broadcast system that will be capable of delivering 3D football.

A dedicated channel will likely bring the beautiful game into the third dimension sometime in 2010, and will be compatible with current Sky dishes and HD set-top boxes. However, a 3D enabled TV will be necessary to view the content.

For all its merits, there are a couple of players we think wont benefit much from the jump to 3D. Click here to see what we mean.

We mentioned this a few weeks ago, but now it has been confirmed - the BBC iPlayer is coming to Freesat.

Now slated to launch next month the service will enable owners of Freesat satellite TV boxes to access the iPlayer's on demand programming via a TV. The iPlayer is already available to Virgin Media and BT Vision box owners but both of those services require a subscription whereas Freesat is free after the initial purchase of the equipment.

It won't just be BBC content on the service either; apparently ITV is set to deliver its catch up TV service the ITV Player next year.

The iPlayer service will be rolled out to a select few Freesat owners in the next few weeks with the service available across the network by Christmas.

The "crown jewels" of sporting events are to come under review by the Government, which may see media giants Sky forced to relinquish their exclusive rights to the Ashes cricket test series. The review could see the Ashes returning to channels that do not require a subscription fee.

Sky currently has an exclusivity deal on the Ashes worth £250 million, but former FA chief David Davies, who is heading the review, believes that sporting events with such "national resonance" should be widely available beyond subscription services.

Theories are already circulating that the Government move is a bargaining chip following deteriorating relations with Sky owners News Corporation. News Corporation also own the Sun newspaper, which recently voiced its change of allegiance from Labour to Conservative in the run up to the next general election.

The company's billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch has said to have had received a personal call from Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week to address the flailing relations.

Though the prospect of watching Sky TV through your Xbox 360 is a very exciting one indeed, the recent launch of Sky Player on the games console has been one fraught with problems.

As such, the media giant is looking to revise the service, making it available to customers gradually as they learn to manage the enormous demand which crippled the Sky Player upon it's initial launch.

The new revised model will see the service available first to "ten of thousands" of customers a day, with that rough figure gradually rising as problems and bugs are addressed.

Sky have said "We are taking this phased approach to ensure that consumers experience a high-quality experience. The Sky team has contacted the affected Sky Player TV subscribers on Xbox directly with further updates."

The long-planned partnership between Sky and Xbox 360 goes live today. Xbox Live Gold members can pick up 24 Sky digital channels for a monthly subscription charge of £15. Alternatively, those who already have a Sky subscription can get the service for free, providing they have an Xbox Live Gold membership.

"Today our customers enjoy film, music, videos and games on Xbox 360 and TV is another significant step forward in our entertainment vision," Microsoft UK's Neil Thompson stated.

"And now Xbox owners will have the variety and volume of entertainment along with unique services such as the avatar community which allow you to share, celebrate and chat - it is clear that Xbox 360 is taking entertainment beyond the living room with unique social interactive entertainment experiences."

As well as being able to watch TV with pals and interact through your Xbox Live avatars, premium upgrade bundles such as Sky Sports and Sky Movies will be available at additional cost.

It's a nice new feature for Xbox Live Gold subscribers, but bear in mind that an internet connection of 6-8 mbps will be necessary to avoid the buffering blues.

New figures released by Sky claim to show Sky+HD boxes sold at a rate of one every 30 seconds between the months of July and September.

With the public preferring a cosy night in during these wallet-whacking times, Sky has seen subscriptions to its HD service rise to 1.6 million. That's on top of the 6 million who already own a standard Sky+ box.

The number of HD channels is also set to rise to 35, with the introduction of Sky Movies Indie HD on Monday.

Good news for Sky users. A year and half after it first announced its intention to launch a digital music service, Sky Songs will go live next week. It appears that the delay has largely been due to the fact that it has taken a long time to sign up all the major music labels.

The best bit is that Sky subscribers get a free album if they sign up for a trial. It is also a fairly competitive service with individual tracks selling for 65p each - which is cheaper than many of Sky's rivals.

Alternatively for £6.49 or £7.99 per month Sky offers unlimited streaming plus 10 or 15 free MP3 downloads depending on which price plan the user chooses.

The only real drawback is that with four million tunes Sky's services is a lot smaller than many of its rivals.

Sky will be launching a HD version of their popular news channel, to be broadcast alongside the current, standard definition, version from Spring 2010.

To coincide with the launch Sky will be updating their studios and production facilities, so expect an even more Starship Enterprise looking set with an ever increasing, and seemingly unneeded, array of computer graphics.

Sky HD currently has over a million subscribers and has been aggressively promoting the service in recent months. They are currently offering the box to new customers for a mere £49, free set-up, plus £50 worth of Tesco's vouchers. It costs an additional £9.75 a month to subscribe to the HD channels, but it's still pretty good value. Sky may even drop this additional subscription price in the future, as they did with the Sky+ fee.

The announcement will also put a bit of pressure on Freesat, who currently only offer two HD channels - BBC and ITV. Sky in comparison, has over 30.

In America, the big networks, like Sky's cousin Fox, already broadcast their news in HD, sort of. Everything in the studio is HD but films taken outside, which could be argued is the news, is not always filmed in HD. Sky is planning to make all of their coverage, wherever possible, HD.

Sounds like exciting stuff, although the thought of Eamonn Holmes in HD at 7.30 in the morning is enough to put me off my Weetabix.

(via Broadcast Now)

Microsoft and BSkyB have formally unveiled Sky Player for Xbox 360, Sky's TV service for the Microsoft console.

The service launches later this year and will offer a range of linear TV channels, as well as a library of on-demand content. A number of subscription packages will be available, as will the opportunity to access programming on a pay-per-view basis.

Xbox owners who already have a Sky TV subscription will be able to access Sky Player's on-demand services through their console, in addition to their PC or Mac.

The service will also allow users to IM each other, check news, access fixtures and any other on-demand information.

BSkyB wouldn't say whether the deal with Microsoft was exclusive, although sources said that this is unlikely.

Similar deals could eventually be struck with Sony's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii and Project Canvas, the appallingly named catch-up TV service in development by the BBC, ITV and BT.

(Via TechCrunch)

Two services that require you to stick a satellite dish to the side of your house.

One has been around for two decades, the other has just celebrated its first birthday.

Both will demand an upfront payment: one will continue to drain money from your bank account each month.

So which is best? Read our comparison guide to see if you should go with coming-of-age Sky or new-kid-on-the-block Freesat.

Read on to find out...

Sky has confirmed that they will be adding 3D functionality to their + HD satellite receiver boxes and, in slightly better if less solid news, the BBC has dropped an anvil of a hint suggesting that iPlayer will be getting a dedicated HD channel next month.

Sky tested out the service after recording episodes of Gladiators in 3D - oh, if only Jet were still involved - and has now decided that customers could see it in their homes by the end of the year.

The well reported downside is that they expect people to buy and then not lose/sit on polarized glasses. Good luck with that one Rupert.

Panasonic launched not one but two dual-tuner Freesat HD Blu-ray PVRs yesterday at their shindig over in Amsterdam, making the DMR-BS850 and BS750 the first of their kind in the UK.

No prices as yet - something pretty hefty, I'd imagine - but in May you can expect a pair of machines that'll allow you to watch and record satellite content, HD channels and record onto Blu-ray discs if you really want to as well.

Sky has decided that it's time to get really aggressive when it comes to high definition in the UK, and to that end has slashed the price of its Sky+HD box to just £49. That's a third of the price it was early last year (£150) and is the satellite broadcaster's hope of getting many more subscribers hooked on pay-for-HD.

In fact, thanks to a lot of enticing marketing and the lure of a variety of sports, films and other content in high definition, Sky has just had its best quarter -- in the three months to the end of December, 188,000 people signed up for high-def services, taking the total number of subscribers to nearly 800,000.