MPs from all parties are supporting calls for Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell to override Ofcom and insist on the allocation of sufficient spectrum to allow HD television on the Freeview platform.
Current spectrum allocations do not currently offer broadcasters the capacity to broadcast high definition pictures.
More than 50 MPs have backed a Commons motion which calls on the Government to ensure that “digital switchover is not undermined by the prospect of millions of television viewers, who either cannot afford, or do not want to receive, television by satellite being consigned to a second class service by requiring Ofcom to provide a fair allocation of spectrum for HD on Freeview”.
Ofcom plans to auction the spectrum currently used for analogue transmissions when they come to an end in 2012.
There are fears that public service broadcasters would be unable to compete with other industries such as mobile phone operators for the spectrum.