2012 was a year of many distribution milestones for the BBC and in 2013 the Distribution team is looking forward to a good few more. Readers of my earlier blog will know that last year we began to launch national variants of BBC One HD starting with Northern Ireland on 24 October (alongside the final Digital Switchover event  in the UK). 

I’m delighted to confirm that we are going to launch BBC One Scotland HD on 14 January on Freeview HD , Sky HD , Virgin Media , Freesat HD and YouView with BBC One Wales HD to follow on 29 January.

BBC One Scotland HD and BBC One Wales HD will take over from BBC One HD in the electronic programme guide (EPG) for viewers in Scotland and Wales on the date of launch so these are the channel numbers where you will find them:

The beauty of this launch is that you shouldn’t have to do anything to start receiving the new services. If you live in Scotland or Wales you should just see your new version of BBC One HD appear on the current BBC One HD channel number.

For viewers who have satellite reception that’s not provided by Sky or Freesat boxes, you’ll need to know that we will be broadcasting these two services on the new DSat8 transponder , we’ll publish the details of DSat8 on our satellite reception advice page when the services launch.

If you do find that after the relevant launch date you aren’t getting the version of BBC One HD you would expect then:

If you have Freeview HD or YouView and live in Scotland or Wales, your receiver should pick up the changes automatically but if you experience a problem you can go to Digital UK’s TV retune website for advice on how to retune.

If you have Sky, you should not have to do anything. If you do have an issue receiving any of our channels after these dates, you can try unplugging your Sky set top box, waiting 30 seconds and plugging it back in again. If that doesn’t resolve your problem it’s best to contact Sky on 0844 241 1653

If you have Virgin Media your new version of BBC One HD will appear automatically if you live in Scotland or Wales.

If you have Freesat HD and you are having problems you may need to put your digital box or TV into standby for 30 seconds and then switch it back on again. If the channels are still unavailable then carry out a 'Freesat channel retune'. Full instructions can be found in the manual for your digital TV or box. Further help with retuning can be found at www.freesat.co.uk or by calling the Freesat customer support team on 08450 990 990.

I’m sure some of you are curious to know what the reasoning is behind why these services have been prioritised over other services for launching in HD. I hope you will find the explanation I gave in this blog post helpful in that regard.

I thought you might also appreciate an update on the progress of the transition of BBC HD into BBC Two HD. The plan is for that to happen in a few months' time.

In the meantime, I hope our viewers in Scotland and Wales as well as Northern Ireland enjoy the expansion of our HD service on BBC One.

Alix Pryde is Director, BBC Distribution