Which will be the next major channel to get a new look?

RTÉ One needs to get a new look soon, why in the lastest batches was there no graphics in the scenes. Could they not have the RTÉ One logo animate a bit. At the moment the idents look like they could have been put done in moviemaker. If it gets a new look it we will in another 2 months as they always rebrand in Autumn season. TV3 idents are very good, like the old 1990s BBC TWO ident, its just the music that needs to get done up, for example the dog ident only has 3 notes.

RTE Two's current package is extremely good though. Completely surreal, exactly as idents should be.

I'd be surprised if the BBC One idents weren't made in HD, at least the newer one's should have been. BBC America launched an HD simulcast this February and are using the same idents as BBC One, so one way to know would be to ask an American to check.

I don't think any of the "five terrestrials" are going to change identity soon, they all have either changed recently, or have identities that work well.

As for the major digital channels, it has been hinted that ITV3 may be next in line. Its identity was the most beloved when ITV relaunched in 2006, and it has survived the longest. But perhaps a new look is due.

Out of the bigger digital-only channels on Freeview, BBC Four and More4 have the oldest identities, having both rebranded/launched in 2005. Can't really see a great need for any of them to relaunch, though.

BBC One doesn't need dozens of idents. The BBC just thinks it does because outside companies have told them 'keep paying us enormous sums of money to change things on a regular basis or your viewers will all switch over and never watch BBC One again'.

Of course this is nonsense, so I propose the BBC tells them to take a running jump and instead creates one very good ident in-house.

How about a globe and a concave mirror in a box, together with some electronic trickery. I think it could work

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/img/bbc1_globe_430.jpg

Don't be silly Stuart. BBC1 needs something far more inclusive than the globe on which we all live, like a couple of people doing the tango or something!

BBC America's presentation is much more like US channels in style than a lot of people think it is. They don't really have junctions or idents as such. A programme ends with the credits scrolling retyped on one side of the screen over a BBC One Red background, while trailers run full sound in a DVE box on the other side. Text says what's on next. Once the trails have ended, the next programme starts immediately with no other interstitials. After the titles sequence, in true US fashion, there is usually an ad break before the programme gets started properly. The reversioned BBC One idents only appear in centre breaks, pointing ahead to the next programme.

I couldn't say for sure if the idents were HD in orgination. I reckon a lot of the channel is upscaled SD stuff...

I doubt it. It's more likely they'll just replace the BBC One logo for the BBC One HD logo within the circle. I'm sure they've kept hold of the idents with no graphics ontop to readjust.

Yes of course they have the clean versions

One wonders how long they will keep up the practice of putting "HD" next to the logo in idents.

Some ITV companies kept bragging about being in colour well into the 80s. That was about the same time the "un-colour" VHF transmitters were shut down. If that pattern is repeated, we may have to live with the HD clutter on idents until SDTV is closed down.

I guess too like the other terrestrials the launch of the HD simulcast will be an excuse to put a "BBC One HD" DOG in the corner too. Well, when I say corner it'll probably be 4:3 safe knowing the BBC!

Yes, but the "Colour" indicator on idents wasn't to flag the fact that the channel was available in Colour, but that the next programme was available in Colour. BBC and ITV idents without the word Colour existed and were not confined to VHF tx chains. They did became uncommon once VHF was switched off but I don't think they became entirely redundant for a few years. There were plenty of Black and White UHF 625-line receivers available on the market certainly into the 80s and maybe even the 90s. Putting colour onto the ident was similar to the way Stereo was flagged on idents once NICAM rollout began in the early 90s. ISTR many pres anoraks expected a "Widescreen" flag to appear in a similar fashion over digital idents - but apart from verbal mentions by the digital announcers (at the launch of OnDigital and Sky Digital there was an entirely separate transmission area for the digital versions of the BBC Channels), I don't think that ever happened.