Speaking at last week's Engaging with HD conference staged by Broadcastat London's Waldorf Hilton, Cheesbrough predicted that HD equipment and services would be as cheap as standard definition by 2008 and stated that all in-house content would be HD by 2010.
The BBC's HD strategy is twofold. First, all new-build facilities will be HD-capable. Second, seed funding will be required to expand the HD repertoire. 'HD production is currently limited to co-productions, but we realise that co-producers won't be prepared to pay the 10% to 20% premium for HD forever,' said Cheesbrough. Injection of this extra funding is promised within the next 18 to 24 months.
Current trials include HD recordings of Later with Jools Holland, alongside landmark co-productions such as Planet Earthand the recent tsunami concert from Wales.
Cheesbrough described BSkyB's proposals to launch HD services in 2006 as a welcome initiative in the cause of HD TV in the UK, acknowledging it has focused minds at the corporation in the run-up to Charter renewal. However when pressed by delegates about the logical conclusion of the BBC's HD production plans - namely HD delivery to the viewer - he said that the decision would be made by director general Mark Thompson.
While analogue switch-off offers the government the lure of valuable bandwidth sales, which the BBC said is achievable by 2012 in a four-year rolling regional conversion programme, terrestrial HD would start taking frequencies back. Cheesbrough said this could either be funded by subscription, or failing that, by overnight store and forward on intelligent set-top boxes via broadband.
The BBC believes broadband users will jump from Ofcom's 2004 figure of 4 million UK homes to 15 million to 20 million by 2016.
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