The BBC has announced it plans to launch five new high definition channels by early 2014.

These new BBC HD channels will be : BBC News HD, BBC Three HD, BBC Four HD, CBeebies HD and CBBC HD.

These new BBC HD channels will be via Freeview (in the UK only) as well as satellite services such as Freesat HD and SkyHD.

“BBC One HD and BBC Two HD have already proved to be highly valued by our audiences and I’m delighted that we’re able to follow this with the launch of five new subscription-free BBC HD channels by early 2014,” said the BBC’s director general Tony Hall.

At present there are only four HD channels offered subscription free and free to air from the main broadcasters.

They are BBC One HD, BBC Two HD, ITV HD and Channel 4 HD.

There are also regional variants of the BBC One HD service for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The BBC has indicated it also wants to launch English regional variants of its existing BBC One HD service as well as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland editions of BBC Two HD. This would not need any of the new capacity. It would, however, need to be approved by the BBC Trust.