HD Developments Abroad

For any of you interested in how the rest of the world is doing with HDTV rollouts, here are three interesting pieces for you to chew on:

The BBC Online has the story of confusion regarding HD in Great Britain, particularly with respect to flat-panel displays being sold as HD-ready that are in fact only capable of displaying EDTV. Sound familiar?

South Africa's version of the BBC, the SABC, updates us on that country's plans to broadcast the 2010 soccer World Cup in HD, despite the fact that South Africans themselves won't be able to actually watch the action. High-def isn't expected to arrive in South Africa until 2014 due primarily to delays in upgrading the nation's broadcast facilities for digital transmission.

Finally, Asia Pulse tells of China's migration to DTV and the efforts of Zhang Haitao, vice-minister of the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT), who is "maybe China's most enthusiastic proponent of DTV." The link is courtesy of CED Magazine, which picked up the story from LexisNexis.