Trust sets conditions for BBC HD content

The BBC Trust has published its conclusions on the corporation's proposals for a high definition television channel, with certain conditions.

The Trust said the channel should have a mix of genres, which will be specified in the service licence. It said that the service must not become a "head-on competitor for sports and movie HD channels".

Other conditions include not replicating the BBC One schedule through simulcasting, but that the service should show programmes from across the BBC's portfolio of channels, in order to "make the best use of the upgrade in quality that HD offers".

With regards to capacity for on-demand HD content available over the internet through bbc.co.uk, the BBC Trust says the corporation would be unlikely to offer a significant volume of HD content through this route in the immediate future.

The Trust added that it wants to maintain the BBC Parliament service on DTT, and that BBC Parliament will take precedence over the HD channel when Parliament sits at night, if capacity to broadcast both services is not available.

A four week public consultation period will now take place, with invited views from the public on the different service options and the channel's proposed content, with a final decision by Wednesday November 21.