The UK’s digital terrestrial broadcast platform, Freeview, launches its new HD service this weekend. Freeview HD will carry three high-def channels following ITV's launch of ITV HD on the platform later this week.

March 30, 2010 — An advertising campaign hitting UK screens this weekend will officially begin Freeview HD’s marketing drive. The service began rolling out region-by-region late last year, but the high price of the requisite set-top boxes is widely expected to put many users off upgrading. After all, along with around 50 SD channels, the platform currently offers just two HD channels — BBC HD and Channel 4 HD. If you compare that to Sky’s list of 37 HD channels, Freeview HD fails to impress.

Both Freeview and Sky will begin carrying ITV HD from April 2, but Sky has already announced plans to add a handful of new HD channels before summer. Sky is also Europe’s first broadcaster to introduce a dedicated 3D TV channel, which will begin broadcasting next month.

Many TVs arriving this spring, such as this Panasonic TX-P 50 VT 20, have a built-in Freeview HD tuner.

So what’s the real benefit of Freeview HD? Perhaps the best answer here is that it’s free — once, of course, you’ve made the initial investment in a set-top box. This saves you a minimum of 30 GBP each month compared to having a Sky package. And although the receivers are pricey, some models introduced recently present a tempting set of features. The price of one set-top box from British manufacturer 3view was confirmed at 299 GBP earlier this week. Available to pre-order next month, it will offer a built-in Freeview HD receiver, hard-disk recording capabilities, and DLNA network playback. Cheaper, less sophisticated models are available from about 140 GBP.