'Tis the season for giving / sharing, so we're glad to see Auntie Beeb in the festive spirit. Reportedly, BBC HD will be bestowing upon its viewers a whole slew of high-def content for the holiday season, including Shrek The Halls, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and The Chronicles Of Narnia – The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. Onlookers will also be treated to the long-awaited three-part horror story There Was a Crooked House and The 39 Steps, not to mention a handful of other movies you've certainly been waiting eons to see on broadcast TV. Way to step up the game, BBC -- now, how's about everyone else take a note and follow suit?

iN DEMAND Networks has heard you loud and clear, and it's giving Three Sheets fanatics at least one more look at Zane Lamprey's blitzed face this New Year's Eve. On the very day that MOJO HD vanished from programming providers everywhere, in flies a release informing us that what's likely the channel's most loved show will be back for another go... online. The second annual Three Sheets New Year's Even Pub Crawl will air this year from London, and it will begin streaming at the stroke of midnight ET on January 1, 2009. The 45-minute special will see Zane dropping by the bar at Duke's Hotel, Green and Red on the East End and Casa Blue (just to name a few). Oh, and if you're really dedicated to the show, you can hit up the Zane Years Eve party in LA, which will include a screening of this very show. We'll keep you posted on anything we hear regarding the show being picked up on another network (hint, hint, networks). Full release is after the break.

Time Warner Cable came through on its promise to bring 14 new high-definition channels to Cincinnati, Ohio this month, so we don't see any reason why it'll let locals down in December. According to a blurb on the carrier's website, it is "currently involved in discussions" to bring a whole heap of new HD channels to Southwest Ohio. If agreements can be nailed down within the next few weeks, residents could see USA HD, Sci-Fi HD, MSNBC HD, Bravo HD, Science Channel HD, Animal Planet HD, ESPNews HD, FX HD, Weather Channel HD, Golf Channel HD, Versus HD, Big Ten Network HD, Cinemax HD and Starz HD. Cross your fingers for a Christmas miracle.

[Thanks, Dayton Guy]

Last time we checked in with a la carte IPTV provider now TV, the Hong Kong service had just hit a half million subscribers -- three years later its adding content from Disney - ABC to the high definition video on-demand offerings. Lost, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Kyle XY episodes and more are available at the press of a button for a $7.70 / month (U.S.) subscription fee. The only question now is when one of the big providers Stateside will let us build our own channel lineup.

It's been a while since we checked in with HDFEST, but the all-HD independent film festival, now in it's 9th year, is still going strong. Due to kick off at Dolby Laboratories in Burbank on December 7, highlights this year include a focus on animation and several innovative stop motion projects, a HD music video showcase and seven full length feature films. Hit up the website for more information and a schedule of the $10/per screenings, hopefully some of these flicks find away home to the rest of us on any of the number of distribution routes now available.

Rather than pumping out yet another programming provider in Hungary, we'd suggest just adding more HD and lowering prices at the ones that already exist. But hey, what do we know? Starting this week, Hungarian citizens now have one more DTH satellite provider to choose from in T-Home SatTV, which taps into Spacecom's AMOS-3 satellite to provide "a large channel bouquet including four HD channels." There's no mention of exactly what high-def stations are included nor how pricey the service will be, but in the end, we suppose choice (and thus, competition) is a good thing.

Hate to get you all riled up for nothing, San Diego, but Cox is dropping a whopping 19 new high-def channels in your area. Too bad every last one of them is simply an HD On Demand channel. The carrier is now touting that locals have 67 HD channels to flip through, which is factual per se, but hardly indicative of the actual situation. Ah well, VOD is better than zilch, we suppose.

Behind the scenes of Live With Regis and Kelly's HD upgrade will be a new high definition control room, plus new HDTV studio and handheld cams. Not getting replaced for the resolution bump? The set, unlike Entertainment Tonight's new digs Broadcasting & Cable reports Live is just throwing a fresh coat of paint on what's there and moving forward. Unfortunately it seems the state of HD syndication ready local stations is still in disarray, so it may be some time before you actually get a look at the improved broadcast in your area, but everyone else should be more than taken care of January 5.

The second season of Internet MMO comedy short The Guild is ready to debut in high definition tomorrow (according to Major Nelson Seasons 0 & 1 are available right now) on Xbox 360, MSN and Zune. Sponsored by Sprint, Reuters reports this is due to appear on the Independent Video channel, with 12 4-7 minute episodes plus a holiday special appearing first on Microsoft platforms, and later on the series website. Also appearing tomorrow is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog starring the legen -- wait for it -- dary Neil Patrick Harris. Best of all? They're free, however with friends needing one more for that next Left 4 Dead run through and The Thing queued up on Netflix, our time might not be.

[Via Evil Avatar]

No longer just something for French children, Disney's Cinemagic HD channel will be coming to the UK this December on Sky Digital. Sky's HD count will hit 29 with the addition when it debuts in time for Christmas screenings of "Ratatouille" and "Tinkerbell." In case you're wondering what those two flicks have to do with Christmas, we have to say, "Get over it, Scrooge." Seriously, at least here in the US, we'll take anything HD that breaks up the "It's a Wonderful Life" - "Miracle on 34th Street" - "A Christmas Story" marathon that is the Christmas season and is kid-friendly! Hopefully the offerings on the HD movie-centric channel will grow quickly out of the gate for our UK friends.

Another month, another trip down memory lane comes to us courtesy HDNet's Concert Series. That lane is getting longer than we'd like to admit, as this Sunday "Cowboy Junkies: Trinity Revisited" will air live to mark the 20-year anniversary of the audiophile classic "The Trinity Session." We won't bother to count the number of copies of the recording that we've been through, or how many different formats (hint -- we used to call them "albums"), but we'll tune in at least for "Sweet Jane" one more time.

Cox may not roll 'em out as quickly as competing carriers, but when it drops new high-def channels, it drops a bundle. The latest area to get word of an impending load is the Gulf Coast region, where eleven newcomers will come home this December. AMC HD, Comedy Central HD, Cinemax HD, Hallmark Movie Channel HD, CMT HD, Starz HD, Nickelodeon HD, Travel Channel HD, Spike HD, VH1 HD and Palladia HD will be arriving in the area next month, and effective December 2nd, a slew of channel changes will also be taking place. Tap the read link to get the details.

[Thanks, Tim]

TNTSAT, a digital terrestrial free-TV offer via the ASTRA satellite system, has just found its way into 750,000 domiciles across the beautiful French countryside. For those unaware, the service targets regions where TVs cannot receive signals from terrestrial transmitters, and it offers viewers the "full range of French digital terrestrial free-TV channels over the ASTRA satellites, allowing a 100% coverage of France." But that's not all that's being announced today: TNTSAT HD is being launched on February 15, 2009 alongside the launch of free DTT channels in high-def being available on ASTRA; those eager to get a jump on things can expect around ten more SD / HD TNTSAT receivers to become available before the year's end. And to think, we heard that France wasn't exactly rushing to adopt HD back in May -- guess there's nothing like a little kick in the pants to get things going.

Rather than, you know, giving loyal customers a few extra high-def channels, Cablevision has decided to instead exhaust resources on pushing Bollywood Hits On Demand out to iO TV subscribers. Bollywood. Hits. On. Demand. Personally, we've no qualms with Bollywood flicks, but we can't help but scratch our heads on this one, particularly since it's an SD VOD service. Nevertheless, it still marks the company's very first international subscription video on demand service, and those interested will have to pony up $9.95 per month in order to indulge.

[Via Multichannel]

Verizon's not slacking off as the run-up to the holiday season continues -- probably because folks are apt to have all sorts of free TV watching time here in the next month or so -- so we'll get right down to the releases. Up first are the towns of Middleton, Massachusetts, and the corporately-stacked Wilmington, Delaware, which have just granted the company a video license. Next, we head to the Pacific Northwest to see that Camas, Washington and Gresham, Oregon have agreed to do the same. Finally, we're told that Philadelphia-area residents are being treated to 30 new channels (17 of which are in high-def). That's it for this week -- we'll see you back again in seven days for (hopefully) even more.

Read - Philadelphia channels
Read - Washington expansion
Read - Massachusetts expansion
Read - Oregon expansion
Read - Delaware expansion