on the success of the D-Book, Freeview and Freeview Play. Viewers will of course still need a terrestrial TV antenna alongside a broadband connection to enjoy the full benefits of the platform. Needless to say, FreeSat, Sky and Virgin all continue to thrive, each being enhanced by IP.
An additional vote of confidence in broadcast has come from across the channel, with France Télévisions planning to make a free-to- air Ultra High Definition service available on DTT in time for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is a permanent move of France 2 to the UHD format during the first quarter of 2024, with ambitions way beyond the Olympics. In the Autumn of 2023, the UK Public Service Broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 5, and Channel 5) announced that their joint venture, Everyone TV, would launch a new hybrid broadcast-broadband TV service, Freely, in 2024. The service will bring a new IP enhancement to DTT, very much building
Demonstrating once more that hybrid is very much here to stay for many years to come.
But what about innovation? We assume a working hypothesis that all internet innovations will have an impact on UK television and that dominant market influences will be global. As such it will be challenging, but not impossible, for the UK to make its mark.
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CAI Feedback Spring 2024
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