No one has publicly predicted this will really happen, but some published reports in Europe note that although Paris lost out to the English in their well-publicized bidding war for the 2012 summer Olympics, the French may be in a position to block future HD terrestrial signals carrying the games 7 years from now in southern regions of the island nation. It's all a matter of geography. The reason--which may even prove to be legitimate--would be interference caused by necessarily high antenna masts on the English coast that could interfere with French and/or Dutch DTV signals.
The U.K. rollout of HD is expected to be concentrated in the latter part of this decade, although as in the United States and most other developed countries, the overwhelming majority of viewers are not dependent on terrestrial signals. Still, an estimated 500,000 U.K. households could be affected by possible interference problems.
France is ahead of Great Britain in its DTV rollout, according to published reports. Recently, a French regulator announced a digital timetable that stipulates that DTV channels must be launched between now and the end of 2006. At French broadcaster TF1, there are plans to ensure that HD is part of the deal. And TPS, the subsidiary of TF1, also intends to broadcast HD programs next year.
While there are no firm plans yet in France about which standard to adopt, TF1 will promote 1080-lines interlace, rather than 720p, partly because TF1 appears to be under the erroneous impression that the United States and other countries have adopted 1080i as an official standard.
