ITV
The ITV network started broadcasting a trial service on Telewest's digital cable television platform as well as on the digital terrestrial television trial in London during the 2006 Football World Cup. The service ceased after this period, but a new HD service began to be made available with the launch of Freesat, on 7 June 2008, where selected programmes were offered in HD format, and accessed by the red button on Freesat receivers. ITV plc intended to spend £10m during 2008 on supporting ITV HD. This occasional feed was intended for Freesat viewers and was not listed in the Sky EPG. However, ITV HD could be tuned in manually on Sky HD boxes via the "other channels" section from the "services" menu.
On 12 March 2010 ITV plc announced its intention to launch a full-time ITV1 HD service, available on Freeview, Freesat, Virgin Media, and Sky. The service launched on 2 April at 06:00. STV followed with STV HD on 2 April 2010, available on Freeview, Virgin Media and free-to-air satellite. While UTV launched UTV HD on Virgin Media on 5 October 2010. ITV1 HD was renamed back to ITV HD on 14 January 2013.
ITV2 HD launched on 7 October 2010, followed by ITV3 HD and ITV4 HD on 15 November 2010. All three channels are only available as part of Sky's subscription package.
Read more about this topic: High-definition Television In The United Kingdom, Broadcasters