The letters HDTV might not mean much to the general public at the moment. But expect the people from Sky to be talking about high definition television an awful lot next year.
The satellite broadcaster is banking on the new technology to give them a competitive advantage over Freeview, which is gobbling up Sky's lead in the digital TV stakes and is likely to be in more homes than Sky by the end of next year.
Sky's fightback began with a double offensive yesterday – a tie-up with Sony to sell high definition flat screen TV sets, and a presentation before a House of Commons select committee that was virtually a sales pitch for the HDTV.
Freeview's problem is that it doesn't have enough bandwidth to exploit the new technology, and will probably be able to broadcast a maximum of five channels in high definition. That's not an issue for cable and satellite operators such as Sky, who have bandwidth coming out of their ears.
But what's so great about HDTV? A greatly enhanced picture quality and crystal clear sound. Exactly what they said about digital, in fact. But this really is meant to be a big improvement – "just like looking out of the window", said one user. Except with something slightly more interesting to look at.
