Freeview to switch to MPEG-4 ?

According to Ofcom's newly-released document titled
'Digital Dividend Review - Summary of consultation responses and revised timetable' the BBC's response to the Digital Dividend consultation suggests that all existing Freeview channels will eventually switch over to use the more efficient MPEG-4 standard instead of the current
MPEG-2

Such a move would make all existing Freeview Set Top Boxes (STB's) and Digital TV's obsolete. There would in effect be a second "Digital Switchover" with consumers having to buy MPEG-4 STB's.

Ofcoms Digital Dividend Review Responses summary document says

• The BBC proposed a “spend to save” strategy whereby we gifted spectrum to PSBs to allow a migration from the MPEG2 transmission standard to MPEG4. This would be facilitated by the HD offering, as consumers would have an incentive to
upgrade set-top boxes (STBs).

Under this strategy, once consumers had migrated to MPEG4, all standard-definition services could be provided in much less spectrum, with HD services provided alongside using the 256 MHz of spectrum already reserved for DTT.

This would mean that once all STBs were MPEG4, the gifted spectrum could be handed back, possibly 12 years after DSO. There may also be potential for some of the 256 MHz to be handed back to Ofcom for future auction.

Digital Dividend Review - Summary of consultation responses
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ddr/
condocsummary/ddrsummary.pdf

BBC Digital Dividend Consultation Response
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/
ddr/responses/ab/bbc.pdf

All the non-confidential Consultation responses can be seen at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/ddr/responses/

UK's Freeview boxes could soon be obsolete (January 2006)
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2006/freeview.htm

Ofcom postpones U.K. spectrum auctions
http://www.eetimes.eu/199702943