Survey: Only one in 10 UK consumers planning to go HD this year
By Richard Lawler 
posted Apr 9th 2009 4:17AM
posted Apr 9th 2009 4:17AM
Looks like Brits have something more important on their minds than HDTV, with survey results indicating that although 99% of consumers were aware of HD only 11% are planning on buying one this year. Of course, one must take online polls with a grain of salt, but the results must be troubling for projected rollouts of HD and beyond, with 53% indicating they don't have it and don't plan to buy. The problem? Tight wallets and a "perceived lack of content." We'll wait until the HD Dr. Who Planet of the Dead special airs and see if that shifts the numbers any.
This doesn't surprise me. I live in the UK and the choice available, bother in terms of provider and content, is shockingly bad for the money you have to pay. I have gone 'FreeSat', which is free. I get BBC HD and ITV-HD. BBC is good with lots of nature stuff, Olympics, a few dramas (Damages, Heroes). ITV-HD is a bit more hit and miss. Mostly I watch the Football (played with FEET) in HD. Sky charge £10/month on top of the usual fee for HD content. It's quite good but in this climate not for me.
I'm not aware of the situation with HD and cable, but other HD options boil down to this:
1) Pay Sky an absolute fortune for a smattering of channels spread over their different pay packages. It's not the joke it was a year ago but its still derisory and horrifically expensive.
2) Make do with FreeSat and BBC HD, some ITV HD (and any others which appear in due course). Boxes cost more than Sky but pay for themselves fairly rapidly with no monthly sub on top to worry about..
3) Wait and see
So it's not surprising if people are not going to HD programming. At the same time, people *are* HD ready whether they like it or not. It is virtually impossible to get a non-HD television set any more unless you buy some crappy no-name LCD from the bottom of the heap.
I expect that once DVB-T2 rolls out, that HD will step up a gear. Sky are being lazy and greedy because there isn't much competition to worry about yet.