The Beeb are trialing freeview Hd boxes this year-but only to a lucky few according to the Guardian. I guess us peasants will have to be patient.
This was reported by the BBC a couple of months back, and there were a few posts about it on this forum. A few people mentioned that once the trials were started they would more than likely continue (as long as it all works ) and the STB's made available to buy, which I think is a likely outcome. The trials would however only be in the London area and use free bandwidth that is not able to be used for analogue etc broadcasts. With Sky & Cable going HD at some point this year I would guess this would help to push the BBC etc to get HD up & running on the Freeview/DTT platform ASAP. Mark.
Freeview HD won't happen until after the analogue TV shutdown, because HD would not be compatible with the SD boxes already out there, so presumably HD will run alongside SD for a while (unless they decide to "pull the plug" on SD boxes, which is very unlikely). Until the frequencies used by analogue TV are released, there's no room for HD Freeview, and the shutdown won't be complete until 2012. The London trial will probably be a limited one using only one mux, and it's only possible in London because of the geography and population density.
My local dealer told me that the BBC are looking to use some channels on the Astra satellite for hi-def and try and steal a march on Sky. The box you need will be a one-off charge of £150, and this (in effect) freeview satellite will use your existing Sky dish (which, to my eye, would probably need a twin-horn LNB or something, so as not to fiddle-up your Sky viewing). Sounds a little unlikely to me - does anyone have any information on this? Also seems remarkably like this story, but with some detail mixed up: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=301641&highlight=bbc
The BBC are going to have a HD trial on DTT and Dsat as well supplying TW with some content. It's not exactly stealing a march on SKY since it is a 9month trial not a proper service and the likely hood is any Dsat broadcast will be watchable on SKY hardware since the beeb would be using capacity and EBU approved standards on their existing transponders. SKY would probably welcome any BBC content A mpeg4 dvbs-2 HD receiver will cost around £250 but by the time the BBC offer a genuine HD Dsat service they will have come down in price and who knows the BBC and ITV may have convinced the manufacturers to directly support their Freesat ideas.