ITV gets rights to show James Bond films in HD
ITV plans to show the complete back catalogue of more than 20 James Bond films in high definition for the first time on terrestrial TV, after striking a deal to keep the free-to-air rights for the Bond film franchise.
According to MediaGuardian, the broadcaster has signed a multi-year renewal agreement that includes the UK premiere of Quantum of Solace, starring Daniel Craig, on terrestrial TV.
As part of the deal, ITV reckons it will show all the Bond films in HD for the first time in a season on ITV1 HD spanning this year and next.
"James Bond is a British cinematic icon loved by ITV's audience and we're delighted to continue the franchise's long association with ITV, as well as the chance, for the first time, to show every Bond feature film in fantastic HD," said Zai Bennett, ITV's director of digital channels and acquisitions.
Follow whathifi.com on Twitter
Comments
Quite a few Bond movies have been released on Blu-Ray and look pretty good too. I am not sure if the showing in HD by ITV HD will be true HD though, more like upscaled. But, it is a step in the right direction to show these ever popular movies in some kind of HD Format.
Well, you can't actually broadcast at Blu-ray quality (1080p) Peter H, the maximum resolution on Sky/Virgin etc is 720p or 1080i.
Except in Norn iron. Still no word on UTV HD service. Typical.
"About time they were all released on Blu-ray"
But are they ? I notice a lot of Sky's supposed HD content is really upscaled standard definition, not blu ray.
Maybe ITV will finally show the proper version of From Russia With Love, rather than the heavily edited nonsense they've been showing for years....
About time they were all released on Blu-ray, all ITV does is demolish them with the 2.35:1s panned and scanned to 16:9 and chopped up with commercial breaks.