Talk about getting around. Auntie Beeb has jumped from Freeview to FreeSat to Sky HD to iPlayer to who knows where else in no particular order, and while the vast majority of Europe is still struggling to adopt vanilla HD, the network is already dipping its toes in the next best thing. Reportedly, the BBC is all set to participate in a transmission trial using the Super Hi-Vision (SHV) system developed by Japan's NHK. The series of demonstrations will combine content from Japan and London, and the actual screenings are supposed to take place in the NHK Theater using an 8k x 4k projector. We'll admit, this isn't the very first time we've heard that The Beeb may be interested in this stuff, but with the UK-based 2012 Olympics growing ever closer, it looks like the dedication may be ratcheting up.

[Via TechRadar, thank L. Rawlins]

We knew it was coming, and after waiting for quite some time for FreeSat to go from concept to reality, television viewers across the UK can finally indulge. If you'll recall, a recent survey found that just 5-percent of Europe's HDTV owners actually bothered to tune into HD programming, but now that number is likely to change. Effective today, 98-percent of the UK can fork out a one-time fee of £49 ($96) to £120 ($234) in order to acquire a FreeSat set-top-box, and after an £80 ($156) installation, users will have subscription-free access to BBC HD, ITV HD (coming soon), Channel 4's digital service and around 70 other TV / radio channels. Better still, that number is slated to rise to 200 before the year's end, and unsurprisingly, the launch is expected to boost available high-def offerings in the region. Anyone across the pond have their equipment set up already? How's the service?

[Thanks, Ivan]

Not happy letting us Yankees get away with all the 3D sporting action, the BBC plans to test a 3D HD broadcast of a Rugby Six Nations match next month. A lot like the NBA's test with last year's All-Star Game and NBA Finals, the March 8th game between Scotland and England will be captured by three camera rigs and then transmitted via satellite -- unlike the fiber connection used by the NBA -- to an audience watching a big screen with 3D glasses. Can Communicate, Inition and Axis are the companies forming 3DFirm, which is partnering with the Beeb to make the whole thing happen, including working out a new style of camera work and post production. We won't say we're waiting for a 3D broadcast of real football to get excited about these tests (we'll just think it.)

Yeah, the BBC seems to be quite the indecisive bunch, but according to a recent blog posting by Ashley Highfield (Director, BBC Future Media And Technology), its iPlayer may actually see face time on Apple's revised Apple TV platform. Quite frankly, details are far too thin to actually make anything of this just yet, but he does note that the "effective relaunch of the AppleTV... coupled with its (long anticipated) move to a rental model, means that we can look to getting BBC iPlayer onto this platform too, as we should be able to use the rental functionality to allow our programs to be downloaded, free, but retained for a time window, and then erased, as our rights-holders currently insist." The post goes on to touch on a number of IP to TV-related topics, but not once does it mention actually being in talks with Cupertino to make this happen. Guess it's wait-and-see from here, eh?

[Via Electronista]

Don't look now, but it seems that three rivals in the UK have found enough love in their hearts (or promise for profitability) to team up for the good of the consumer. Reportedly, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will be joining hands in order to deliver an on-demand service that hopes to "bring together hundreds of hours of television programs in one place" -- a collaborative effort once known as Project Kangaroo. Of course, the grand idea still has to be approved by the BBC Trust and other broadcasters' boards, and an official name for the service still has to be thought up, but at least the wheels are apparently turning, right? We're hearing that content from the trio will be available for "free download, streaming, rental and purchase via the internet, with expansion onto other platforms planned," and just in case you were curious, the iPlayer, ITV's catch-up service and Channel 4oD will indeed coexist with the new aggregator. Hang tight UK, the to-be-named service is set to go live sometime next year should things pan out nicely.

[Via Yahoo / Reuters]

EcoWatts and its fake free energy gadget is back in the limelight again, with the BBC Breakfast Show falling hook, line, and sinker in an interview with the company's "CEO" Paul Calver. Calver stated that "we're still getting to the question of why it works," explaining to a BBC presenter his bewilderment at his very own creation. The response from the interviewer? "The point is it does." Unfortunately, the point is that it almost certainly doesn't. Ben Goldacre used his excellent Bad Science Guardian column this week to dig up some dirt on the dodgy company, and managed to find a scientist who gave his stamp of approval to a similar free energy gadget four years back: "Using the apparatus provided, it's true, this scientist could get incredible results: the meters would read zero, and yet water would boil in around five minutes. Because the meters provided weren't working." The company that provided this former gadget along with the "broken" meters? EcoWatts.

We're still quite a few days months away from our official analog-to-digital cutover, but the lads (and dames) in Britain aren't wasting any time. Reportedly, the nation is already preparing to begin the switchover, starting in the northwest English resort of Whitehaven with BBC2. This initial move will affect around 25,000 households, and it was noted that the "other analog channels" would be switched off on November 14th. 'Course, Britain as a whole isn't scheduled to go 100-percent digital until 2012, but that didn't stop kiddos at a local primary school from "burying an analog time capsule to recall how television was before the change." Kids these days... they've got it good.

[Image courtesy of BBC]

Normally, the news that a study into the dangerousness of WiFi signals was to take place would provoke groans of disappointment from these pages: however, the British Government's statement that such a study is going to take place is a somewhat calming development. The Health Protection Agency, the group tasked with staging the study, will aim for the study to be "systematic" -- alternatively meaning "final," "definitive," and "complete" -- with all areas of potential dangerousness being investigated, with the opening remarks from the chief executive of the agency including affirmations that no evidence has previously been found that 2.4GHz WiFi frequencies cause danger. Schools will not turn off their routers while the study takes place, and the results are expected to be "reassuring." Sanity has won this battle it seems.

We haven't had a chance to play with BBC's nifty new iPlayer online video service yet, but we're hearing that FairUse4WM strips the files of their DRM -- anyone try it out yet? Let us know in comments!

[Thanks, Chris]

Nah, it's not quite ready for your iPhone (or OS X at all, to be frank), but the BBC iPlayer has officially launched. The online TV service will go head-to-head with rivals 4OD and ITV, and according to director general Mark Thompson, the launch of iPlayer "is as big a milestone as the arrival of color TV." All exaggeration aside, the service will allow viewers to "download a selection of programs from the last seven days and watch them for up to 30 days afterwards," and of course, all files are not only laced in DRM, but will automatically delete themselves after they are viewed or after 30 days have passed. Currently, a fixed number of people will be able to sign up, with the numbers increasing throughout the year, and while it only operates in Britain on Windows XP systems using IE 6 or later, the BBC's Ashley Highfield has stated that hopes are for the iPlayer to "become a universal service available not just over the internet, but also on cable and other TV platforms, and eventually on mobiles and smart handheld devices."

[Via BBC]

Although there's a lot of grumbling in the UK about that £135 ($270) yearly television license fee (only $87 for a black and white set!), it's hard to complain that the BBC doesn't try to use all that money in cool ways. Adding to their already-ambitious plans to distribute HDTV through torrent, datacasting, and IPTV, the Beeb announced today that, after years of delays, they've been approved to pair up with ITV and launch a free 200-channel HD-capable satellite service called Freesat in the spring of 2008. The move is designed to provide digital service to the estimated 25% of the British public that can't get the successful Freeview DVB-T service, but it'll also be free to any license payer who ponys up for one of the several available interactive receivers. Hmm, that's an interesting version of "free," must be the British spelling.

[Via TechDigest]

A fancy new distribution platform is only as good as its content, and while we knew Azureus had the former down pat with Zudeo's snappy HD distribution techniques, we weren't quite sure what they had up their sleeve for the latter part of the equation. Well, good news: BBC just signed up for Zudeo, and will be making "hundreds of episodes" available on the fledgling download service. "Programmes" will include Red Dwarf, Doctor Who and The League of Gentleman, with classics such as Fawlty Towers available as well. There will be DRM slapped on top of the shows, which will be distributed in a "high-quality" form, and there's no word yet exactly how much Zudeo will be charging for these downloads, but if they can break through that $1.99 barrier we're seeing good things in Zudeo's future -- especially with more content deals on the way, which Azureus is planning to announce in January.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

The deets are slim, but they come straight from a BBC News article, so we're thinking there just might be some weight to them. Apparently the UK's BBC is planning their very own DAB device to act as "clip-on" addition to current MP3 players. Such functionality extension brings the iPod and its dock connector quickly to mind, but BBC isn't naming any names as far as partners go. Right now they're mainly studying the feasibility of such a device, with the main goal being to "make sure that people can listen to digital radio on their own terms." They're also looking into versions for mobile phones and cars, and say they'd "like to get something out sooner rather than later."

[Via Tech Digest]

Because you can never have convenient enough access to all that great BBC programming, Sling Media has just released a version of their popular Slingbox for British TV junkies. The UK model has been tweaked a bit for European viewing, with PAL tuners replacing the NTSC versions found in US boxes, and a DVB-T tuner thrown in for placeshifting that sweet, sweet OTA Freeview content. In conjunction with the UK rollout, the folks at Sling also announced an updated version of the SlingPlayer PC software, whose main upgrades include widescreen 16:9 support and a skinnable client. Slingbox: UK will initially be available exclusively at PC World's website and retail locations -- and at Currys stores in four to six weeks -- for £180, VAT included.