Good news for Sky and Virgin HD customers – ITV appears to have bowed to pressure and agreed to let their HD service be shown on the pay platforms.

ITV 1 HD is currently available on Freesat (via the red button), and to the lucky few who can get Freeview HD, but from the 2nd of April, ITV 1 HD will be available as a dedicated channel on Sky and Virgin. It also looks likely that ITV 1 will be come its own channel on Freesat, and not hidden behind the red button.

The move means that ITV’s HD coverage of the World Cup will now be available to a greater HD audience.

Sky Digital has just upped the sign-up offer to new customers. As well as the free Sky offer, new customers can now get a £50 Marks and Spencer voucher by signing up online.

You’ll need to sign up by 25th March 2010 to get the voucher. The voucher will be sent within 45 days of activating your viewing. Only available for new customers. One voucher per household and only available for online subscriptions.

Details at www.sky.com/shop/tv

Sky is now offering a one Terabyte Sky+ HD box. This increases storage space for TV shows by four times.

The new Sky+ HD 1TB box offers all of the features of the normal  Sky+HD box (including Sky Anytime), but with much recording space – up to  240 hours of HD programming.

The 1 Terabtye Sky+ HD box is available now for £249. Full details at sky.com/1TB

Just a reminder that Sky is currently offering the standard Sky+ HD box for free, with a £25 M & S voucher for a limited time. A great time to get the HD box even if you don’t sign to the HD pack yet. Details on our Sky+ HD page or at Sky’s HD site.

Sky has today updated its offers, and there have been some odd changes.

For a start, the traditional Sky+ box seems to have vanished from the box lineup. Also, you can now only get the basic Sky box as a “multi-room” second box.

This means that the only box open to new customers, is Sky’s top-of-the-range Sky+ HD box (pictured).

You can get the Sky+ HD box for free, provided you sign to Sky’s £10-a-month HD service. Otherwise, take the Sky+ HD box without the HD channels for a one-off £49.

The intention here is clear – by withdrawing all but the HD box, it’s a push to get Sky HD boxes in as many homes as possible, hoping that as more of us get an HD-ready telly, we’ll want to get some HD programming on our tellies.

Still – while Sky’s doing this, it’s good news for new customers who get a top-end box that’s HD-enabled and with the new-style programme guide for nothing – making now a great time to sign up.

Details of Sky’s latest offer: Free Sky+ HD box. There’s also a £25 Marks and sparks voucher on offer too…