Prime TV to Go HD – But For How Long?
September 7, 2010 
9 Comments
Prime TV at last is to start broadcasting in HD — but it may be only for the duration of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The free-to-air network is one of five channels that its owner, Sky TV, will use to screen more than 1400 hours of live coverage.
Sky subscribers won’t have to pay extra for the channels but the downside is four will be SD-only; surprisingly, Sky is reserving its HD firepower for 16 hours of daily coverage on Prime, from 3.30pm-6.30am.
However, it’s not clear if Prime will continue to screen HD content after the Delhi games, which run from October 4-15.
Previously, the satcaster had indicated Prime wouldn’t be HD-capable until 2012, in time for the London Olympic Games.
But hopefully it will follow TV One’s lead with the 2008 Olympics and use next month’s games as the springboard to become the HD broadcaster it should have been by now.
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September 7, 2010 at 7:47 pm
They’re not continuing in HD after the games.
Come on Sky/Prime get that HD feed out there full time i wanna see, Life Without People HD,Dr Who HD,Survivors HD.
Oh and True Blood HD!
Like Sky/Prime really care what their viewers want..
HD? Just watched the games on prime and it all appears to be standard definition to me. . . What happened? Did the Indians forget to install the HD cameras!
You’re quite right — Prime, as in channel 4 on the Sky remote control, is only SD — and bloody awful at that. You need to go to the sports mosaic option, or channel 130, and choose the Prime option, which is in glorious HD, or go direct to channel 136.
But not on DTT despite the HD promos over the weekend saying to watch the CW Games on Prime in HD..
So no Freeview HD games coverage then. . . and they still won’t put their program listings on Tivo. Not exactly looking for new viewers are they.
Mark,
I asked Prime the other week about their lack of EPG on the Tivo. This was their weasely response.
“Will Prime’s listings be available on TiVo’s EPG?
“Prime’s listings are not available on TiVo’s EPG (electronic programming guide) as at this time TiVo does not measure ratings data. This information is important for a free-to-air broadcaster as the ratings are needed to put a value on PRIME’s TV commercials.
“We expect that this feature could be available in 2012 when we will review this decision at that time.”
So all of Sky’s existing STBs all fone home with viewer data?