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Freeview have announced that all new Freeview products must be DVB-T2 HD enabled from the end of next year

Freeview, the UK's biggest free-to-air TV platform, has announced that the Freeview Trade Mark Licence will only be granted for HD products from the end of 2016 with the brand no longer appearing on new SD products. [1]

Freeview, alongside Digital UK, techUK and the DTG, has been working with television manufacturers and retailers to encourage the take-up of HD to deliver the best viewing experience for consumers and a more efficient technical standard.

The move is expected to give a major boost to sales of HD products, which last year (2014) accounted for over 70% of new Freeview TV sales in the UK. Sales of equipment with Freeview in-built have reached more than 100 million since the service launched in 2002. [2]

Recent research by Freeview showed that picture quality via HD and access to the players on their television are the most important features for TV viewers, and this announcement is the next step in the company's drive towards an increasingly hybrid, HD platform.

Earlier this month Freeview announced that the new Freeview Play service, which combines catch-up TV, on-demand services and live television without a subscription, will launch in October. All Freeview Play technology will be built to the HD standard, specified in the DTG D-Book 8.

Guy North, Managing Director of Freeview, said: "Freeview HD gives consumers the best possible picture quality without a subscription. By moving all Freeview products to HD, we are ensuring that our viewers get the full range of channels available to them on the platform and the best possible quality. The company has been working closely with manufacturers, retailers, government and other industry stakeholders to future-proof the platform."

Paul Hide of techUK commented. "We welcome an initiative that will help prepare the market, in the longer term, to utilise available spectrum more efficiently to help protect the value of Digital Terrestrial Television for millions of viewers".

For more information on the work that techUK does in the Digital Terrestrial Television space contact:

Paul Hide, Director of Operations

T 020 7331 2193

[1] From the 1 January 2016, new Freeview TVs above 32in will need to be HD to carry the Freeview trademark brand. All new Freeview equipment will need to be HD after 31 December 2016.

[2] These figures have been provided by GfK, a trusted source of consumer and market information. Its figures cover approximately 94% of total market volume for television, set-top boxes and DVD & Blu-ray players (where the remaining 6% is the estimated size of sales from untracked areas). The sales figures include any model that has an inbuilt Freeview digital terrestrial tuner, whether or not the product itself is Freeview-branded.