Posts by: Craig H - UKTV

When UK Gold launched in 1992, the whole country broadcast in 4:3. When the UKTV network launched in 1997, the majority of programming was still 4:3. Channels didn't go 16:9 until 1998 with BBC One leading the way therefore a lot of UKTV's content is in the 14:9 format. This is a "compromise" format which is a half way house between full 16:9 and 4:3. This is how BBC transmitted 16:9 content (and still does) on their ANALOGUE broadcasts.

When UKTV acquired 16:9 content, it was delivered in this 14:9 format. It is not cost effective to go back to the originals and source the 16:9 versions (although we are doing this on some of our more popular titles). As programmes and series come up for renewal we will look at obtaining the 16:9 version.

We can't broadcast them as 4:3 within a 16:9 frame (i.e. with black bars either side) because the source tape is 14:9.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

My original post said "selected" episodes of The Antiques Roadshow. We have a large back catalogue of this programme and as a result the majority of episodes are in 14:9. All new episodes will be in 16:9.

Thanks for your comments.

As of last Thursday 31st January, I am pleased to confirm UKTV is now broadcasting in widescreen across all 9 of our channels. Please read the feature here: [link] for further information.

As a viewer of UKTV History, you will be pleased to know we are already showing selected episodes of the following programmes in 16:9: Who Do You Think You Are?, 20th Century Battlefields, The Antiques Roadshow, Balderdash and Piffle and Surviving Disaster. Many more programmes will be introduced throughout 2008.

Thanks for contacting UKTV.

Thank you for your comments.

I can confirm BexTech is correct. When we broadcast a 4:3 programme we will switch our 16:9 signal off and revert back to 4:3. For example, the way we show "Only Fools and Horses" now will be exactly the same come Thursday. We do not want to spoil people's enjoyment by cutting off some of the picture.

We're glad you found the set top box instructions useful. We have no plans to make these announcements on air as you only have a small amount of time to introduce the show. We will however, for the first couple of weeks, announce on air when the programme being shown is in widescreen wherever possible.

We are pleased to announce UKTV is going widescreen on Thursday 31st January 2008: [link] One of the main driving forces behind this was the overwhelming response we received to the survey we ran in 2007. Therefore we would like to thank everyone who took the time to contact us.

Please use this thread if you have any questions or comments relating to widescreen broadcasting on UKTV.