Sky customers will find Living, Living HD, Living ROI, Living +1, Livingit, Livingit +1, Challenge and Challenge +1 off-air between approximately 2am and 4am. Sky advise “during this period, there will be brief outages and you will see a placeholder banner advising you that no programmes are being broadcast. You do not need to adjust your TV set or Sky box”. Virgin Media customers should be unaffected.

Channel One will cease broadcasting permanently at 6am on all TV platforms including Sky and Virgin Media (Channel One +1 will end an hour later at 7am). Channel One on Freeview will be replaced with Challenge.

All of the Living channels will be rebranded as Sky Living (Sky Living, Sky Livingit, etc).

Sky advise “HD customers will notice that some HD channels now have the same channel numbers as their standard definition counterparts”.

Sky Atlantic will launch at 9pm on Sky channel 108. A special pre-launch show advertising the launch of Sky Atlantic will air 8pm-9pm on Sky Atlantic, Sky 1, Sky 2, Living, Living it, Living Loves, Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2.

Click here for the official “timeline of changes” page at Sky.com.

FX HD, MTVNHD and National Geographic HD have all launched on Virgin Media (V+ only as these are high definition broadcasts) to join the existing BBC HD channel which – before today – was the only linear HD channel on Virgin TV. FX HD is available on channel 158, MTVNHD is available on channel 310 and National Geographic HD is available on channel 232.

Also, in a press release, Virgin Media have announced “ESPN HD will launch on 3rd August, with 4HD [Channel 4 HD] and LIVING HD coming soon”. They say “4HD will be available to all of Virgin Media’s TV customers at no extra cost, alongside the BBC HD channel. Virgin Media will make its full range of HD channels available at no extra cost to its XL TV customers”.

On Demand HD content is also still available.

Click here to read the press release in full.

The high definition channels to be added will be LIVING HD, FX HD, MTVN HD and National Geographic HD. The Virgin Media press release says the first new HD channel will be “due to launch at the end of July”.

Neil Berkett (chief executive officer of Virgin media) says “As more homes become HD-ready, the launch of four new HD channels marks the next stage in the evolution of our pioneering TV service. Our line-up of HD channels and hugely popular on demand content is a unique and winning combination and we’ll continue to bring more sport, films, entertainment and documentaries to our customers”.

The press release also reveals “Virgin Media is also currently in active talks with UKTV about Good Food HD”.

The original confirmation was last month when Neil Berkett (Virgin Media Chief Executive) said they’d “be launching as many as six high-definition channels in the third quarter”.

The latest confirmation that more HD channels are coming is on an official website setup by Virgin Media called “We Hear You”. It says “lots of you were unhappy with the amount of HD channels available on Virgin Media TV” and they’re “launching more HD channels later this year”. Click here to visit the “We Hear You” website.

It’s also been confirmed an HD version of Living will launch later this year. Broadcast Now reports “Virgin Media will roll out an HD version of Living this year as part of a cross-platform strategy to boost the channel’s brand”. Read more at Broadcast Now.