HD VoD coming to BT Vision

BT's announced that they'll be bringing High Definition Video on Demand to their BT Vision TV service by the end of Summer 2008.

Existing BT Vision set-top boxes are being updated throughout August to a new version of software, 1.2.14642.551, which supports the HD service as well as fixing a number of minor bugs.

Due to the amount of data needed for High Definition, you won't be able to watch HD content streamed over your Broadband connection - instead, you select HD content from the on-screen list, and its downloaded onto the BT Vision box's drive.



Pricing: Blockbuster movies will cost £4.95 each, with older films being priced from £2.95.

More on BT Vision on our Vision Expored page, or at btvision.bt.com

Geoffrey Perkins dies in car accident

Some sad news for UK comedy fans, and the team here at Radio & Telly.

Geoffrey Perkins has died in a car accident, aged 55. Over the years, he produced a number of popular comedy series - most notably for us, BBC Radio's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by the late Douglas Adams. Geoffrey was also involved series including Father Ted, KYTV, Spitting Image, Fast Show, Coupling and Harry Enfield's Television show.

For us, he'll be remembered for his hand in the BBC radio comedy series Radio Active, where as well as writing much of the content, he played presenter Mike Flex.

Your influence will be missed.

Source: BBC News

Red Dwarf set to return to UK screens

Good news for fans of the big rouge one... The cast of the Jupiter Mining Ship, Red Dwarf, are set to make a comeback.

Four 30-minute episodes have been commissioned by everyone's favourite digital channel, Dave. These will apparently be aired in the UK in 2009.

We've also seen a news story reporting that a one-hour DVD special will start production in October this year, commissioned by BBC Worldwide.

No news on who'll be playing Holly, but let's hope Norman Lovett says "yes"

Licketey-split please lads!

ITV and Channel 4 HD Plans

ITV and Channel 4 have submitted bids to regulator Ofcom for their Freeview High Definition services. It's planned that Freeview Multiplex B will be reconfigured to support HD before 2012.

The Beeb are set to get one channel, with ITV and Channel 4 after the other slots. ITV plans to simulcast their 6pm to 11pm slot in HD - By 2012 they're targetting 60-65% of their content being available in HD. Channel 4 plans to bring their existing 24 hour HD service currently on Sky Digital over to Freeview.