The digital switchover for London is scheduled for 2011 and should be completed by April 2012 - in time for the games - which means Londoners will be able to watch the 2012 Olympics in high-definition over Freeview.

It is unlikely that the digital switchover will happen in time for the service to be in place in other areas of the UK meaning they will have to settle for watching the games in standard definition.

In 2007 Ofcom announced that it would implement the launch of three (eventually to become four) High Definition channels on Freeview.

The BBC is planning to upgrade its existing Freeview service to the MPEG 4 coding format in preparation for HD. This will allow the service to carry 4 High Definition channels and 20 Standard Definition channels. 

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