Consumers "confused" by UK hi-definition tv

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) Satellite pay-TV operator BSkyB is to launch its high definition service in the UK next week, but experts believe many consumers remain unsure about the new technology.

Analysts agree HDTV will offer significantly better viewing thanks to higher capacity television sets and better resolution broadcast images.

But some believe take-up will be modest until there is enough content to make it worth investing in the new sets, prices of which start at around 1,000 pounds on the high street.

Sales of HDTV sets are already rising, however. According to research company GfK, 700,000 HD-ready sets were sold in the UK up to the end last year with a further 2 million projected for 2006, making a 2.7 million total by the end of this year -- more than 10 percent of all households.

Nate Elliott, analyst at Jupiter Research, thought take-up of HDTV will still be modest.

''The only folks to bother with it now will be the true die-hards, a relatively small handful of consumers,'' he told Reuters. ''I think it is set to begin as a very niche behaviour.

''There is a lot of confusion out there,'' he added. ''I don't think industry is helping. Retailers seem to have done a pretty poor job of training staff -- it's alarming to walk in to stores and find staff are giving flat-out wrong advice.'' He said he had heard one sales person tell a customer that they just had to plug their Freeview box into their new HDTV set and they'd get high-definition services. ''That simply isn't true,'' he added.

FEW PROGRAMMES Elliott said the lack of high-definition services remained a ''big inhibitor'' to growth in the UK.

''In all other markets, we've seen that early-stage growth has to be driven by supply-side pressure, yet there has been effectively none in the UK.

''The first high-definition content came from Telewest but they're only now at the point where they can deploy nationwide, as is Sky. There has been nothing to watch in high definition.'' Sky Television spokesman Robert Fraser said the broadcaster will launch eight HDTV channels next week, covering sports, movies, entertainment, documentaries and arts.

''Growth of HD-ready set sales suggests that there's a real appetite for consumers for the very highest quality viewing experience,'' he said.

Sky had taken more than 40,000 advance sales of its HDTV equipment since it began marketing three weeks ago.

''We want to work closely with retailers ... to ensure consumers have a clear choice about where to buy,'' Fraser said.

''We are working with these parties to ensure accurate and timely information is available. That's important and we accept that.

Certainly from Sky's perspective we want to be absolutely clear about the way we talk to consumers about HDTV -- we don't want any confusion.'' Although new HDTV sets or ''HD-ready'' sets can receive high-definition services, viewers will also need a set-top box receiver on subscription and to be in an area capable of receiving the broadcast signal.

Michael Briggs, senior researcher at Which?, the independent consumer magazine, said retailers do not always explain this to customers.

''Consumers need a subscription to Telewest or Sky to actually see programmes in high-definition,'' he said. ''Unless you have a subscription, what you see on your new set will just be ordinary broadcast images.

''Publicity about HDTV is everywhere and it has been a big selling point for new television sets.

''But are people clear about how to get it? I don't know that they are.'' REUTERS SK PM0443