ITV1 HD will also be showing other High Definition programming, with upcoming highlights including the UEFA Champions League, The FA Cup, and England internationals; HD dramas including Father & Son, Identity, The Prisoner, Foyles War and Lewis; factual programming including Joanna Lumley’s Nile, Greatest Cities of the World with Griff Rhys Jones, and the brand new Survival with Ray Mears. In entertainment there are new programmes, The Whole 19 Yards and 71 Degrees North, and the return of Soccer Aid and the UK’s biggest TV show, Britain’s Got Talent.

Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media, said:

“ITV offers some of the UK’s most loved programmes and we’re delighted to add them to our growing HD channel line-up. This year’s World Cup promises some unforgettable games and Virgin Media TV viewers will be able to enjoy every nail-biting, heart-stopping, breath-taking moment in stunning High Definition.”

With the current high fever-pitch action attached to the World Cup – many places in and around the World Cup’s hosts South Africa, have inflated their prices causing some folks to abandon plans of being there, as it happens because it is just too pricey. The HD option is the much cheaper and viable solution to avoiding such rip off prices.

Virgin Media is expanding its HD lineup and states that the following HD channels are yet to come; Eurosport, Discovery and E4 will be added to the ‘XL’ tier this spring, while Film4 HD will be made available within all paid-for TV tiers.