HDTV moving through Asia

There will soon be more choices for HDTV viewers in the Singapore market. StarHub and MediaCorp have both announced that they will be launching additional English high definition broadcasting by May of next year.

StarHub, Singapore’s second largest info-communications company and a cable provider will be adding two channels by May of next year.

MediaCorp, Singapore’s national television broadcaster and the largest terrestrial broadcaster, has yet to decide if it will add an additional HD channel or instead will include HD programming on existing channels.

Both broadcasters have been keeping further information about the upcoming releases to themselves. There has yet to be any disclosure concerning things like pricing partly because programming is still being finalized.

The moves by the two broadcasters were announced at the opening of the annual Asia Media Festival being held at the Shangri-La Hotel. Dr. Lee Boon Yang, the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, used the announcements to kick off the festival. The event will include trade conferences, forums, and award ceremonies.

Singapore is fairly new to the HDTV market. StarHub and MediaCorp both launched initial trial services only this past June.

HDTV offers images that are up to four times clearer than the traditional analogue images offered by most broadcasters. Receiving the high definition signals requires HD ready sets and broadcaster provided set top boxes.