Multiple HD channels to launch on Virgin

Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett has confirmed that multiple linear high definition services will launch on the cable operator's television platform over the next few months.

Speaking at the launch of Virgin's 50Mbps broadband service, Berkett said that four linear high definition channels would join the digital cable lineup "over the next three months".

Berkett said that "getting access to HD was problematic" because a platform operator and broadcaster - alluding to Sky - had "locked HD away for a period of time". He said that the situation "has changed over the last 18 months" and that "a lot of non-platform providers" now have content to offer in high definition.

He cautioned that although some linear HD services would appear, Virgin would "invest more heavily" in its high definition on demand product.

Earlier in the press conference, Virgin Media's chief technology officer Howard Watson said that the completion of analogue TV switch-off on the cable network by the end of 2009 would free up a third more spectrum "for use by broadband or high definition television".