Ofcom has today published its Market Impact Assessment (MIA) covering the BBC's plans to launch a new Freeview HD TV channel, which essentially gives the idea a big thumbs up.

Unfortunately the regulator points out that the channel is unlikely to be shown on the BBC's Internet TV (IPTV) iPlayer platform anytime soon due to technological constrains:


Thankfully the news isn't all bad, with Ofcom recommending that the BBC "should work to the objective of delivering the channel on IPTV as soon as it is technically feasible to do so". The BBC has also been asked to factor the costs of doing this into their calculations.

Sadly such an outcome was always to be expected, at least until faster and more flexible broadband services can be made available to the majority. Far too many people are still stuck with restrictive and slow connections, which have enough trouble delivering current IPTV services let alone an HD channel.