The BBC has revealed that it will switch off two of its three interactive Red Button streams in order to make room for upcoming HD services on Freeview HD.
BBC's Red Button interactive services have provided viewers with content for the best part of a decade, with two streams (channel 301 and 302) used regularly for major events such as Wimbledon, and a third (channel 305) used for multi-screen news.
Two of the three streams - channel 302 and 305 - will be turned off tomorrow, October 27. The BBC claims that switching off two of the three interactive streams is "helping to lead HD development so that audiences will be able to enjoy the benefits of this new technology via the UK's most popular free-to-air platform".
However, the decision has led to an uproar among existing Freeview viewers. Following switch off, the BBC states that "viewers will no longer see the BBC News Multiscreen and for other content including sport and music there will be less repeats with content played out in smaller blocks of time."
Despite promising that "viewers will still be able to see sport, music and entertainment on the remaining interactive stream," a number of Freeview users have been quick to point out that Freeview HD's first transmissions in 2009 will be limited to the Granada and London regions. Whilst few viewers may benefit from the increased quality of HD broadcasts, millions of existing Freeview users are faced with a loss of popular services.
BBC Red Button services are believed to attract an audience of some 11 million viewers each week.
