5 will shut down the standard definition version of its main channel on satellite this Thursday, drawing a near-complete end to SD broadcasting among the UK’s PSB broadcasters on the platform (excluding + 1 SD services).
The move follows similar transitions by the BBC in early 2024, ITV during 2023 and 2024, and Channel 4 in late 2024.
The change has little practical impact on viewers. A 2024 estimate by ITV put the number of SD-reliant homes at fewer than 1%. A figure that will have dwindled further following technical changes to Sky’s platform that rendered its earliest receivers obsolete.
5’s offshoot channels – 5USA, 5Star, 5Action and 5Select – remain SD-only on satellite, with HD access confined to internet-based offerings such as 5’s on-demand service and Sky Stream.
Two public service broadcasters retain SD satellite feeds: STV and S4C.
Two variants of STV (for Dundee and Edinburgh) are available in SD only. This is believed to be a means of avoiding the cost of broadcasting these variants on expensive pan-European satellite capacity that would require encryption.
As part of a recent review of the future of TV distribution by Ofcom, S4C argued that the costs of maintaining a presence on Digital Terrestrial TV (Freeview) and satellite platforms are substantial and represent a significant ongoing financial commitment for the broadcaster, and eat into the content budget.
Worth noting that the STV and S4C SD services use the DVB-S2 standard which legacy SD-only receivers don’t support.
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