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Home»Cable & IPTV»Virgin Media upgrades PBS America to HD

Virgin Media upgrades PBS America to HD

10 September 2024

Cable viewers of documentary channel PBS America benefit from a free upgrade which took place overnight.

  • PBS America on channel 187 has been automatically switched from SD to HD picture quality.
  • It’s the latest platform to offer the documentary channel in high definition.

Fans of PBS America, the home of historical, scientific and cultural documentaries, can now access the channel in HD on Virgin Media.

The channel was switched from SD to HD early Tuesday, keeping its current channel number 187. Scheduled recordings aren’t affected by the change.

PBS America showcases PBS’s biggest factual strands including Nova (Science), Frontline (Current Affairs) and American Experience (history).

However, the channel has notably also branched out to feature documentaries focusing on UK history and culture. Its current highlights include docu-drama The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family and SAS: Rogue Warriors, a documentary first shown on BBC Two telling the story behind an extraordinary fighting force.

PBS America HD is the second new HD channel to launch on Virgin Media today. CNN International has returned to Virgin Media UK customers after a three year break, this time in HD.

About PBS America

PBS America first launched as a pay TV channel in the UK in 2011. A commercial offshoot of the US public broadcaster, the channel is run by a team in the UK.

In October 2015, the channel made its debut as a free-to-air service, joining Freesat. Since 2017, the channel has been available on Freeview.

Its HD channel first appeared on Sky’s streaming TV platform, used by Sky Glass and Sky Stream. The arrival of PBS America in HD on Virgin Media is the first instance where the HD channel is available on traditional broadcast (non-streaming) platform.

PBS America also operated a offshoot on Samsung TV Plus called ‘PBS History’, but has recently been removed from the channel line-up.


By: Marc Thornham | Image: PBS

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