It's arriving a little later than in other parts of the world, but Eurosport HD has finally launched on Sky+ HD in the UK. The station is exclusively available as part of a high-def subscription package on slot 412, and should provide HD coverage of the Beijing Olympics and all sorts of other sporting events here in the near future. The addition brings the carrier's total HD lineup to 19, which isn't too shabby for that part of the globe.

Although Hungarians have tasted HD in their homeland before, we're pretty sure having a full platter is much preferred. National broadcaster Antenna Hugária has just announced that it will be launching HDTV services via its Antenna Digital cable platform at the close of this month. Reportedly, the service will be available initially in Budapest and surrounding locales, though we aren't told if plans are in place to spread it elsewhere. Two new packages are slated to become available, the first of which includes National Geographic HD, Eurosport HD and m2; as for the second, you'll find HBO HD. Better still, those who subscribe to m2 HD will already have a ticket to the televised version of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing (in HD, of course). Prospective consumers will be asked to upgrade to an HD-capable set-top-box as well as hand over HU 990 per month ($6.16) for the first HD tier and HU 799 per month ($5.50) for HBO HD.

Despite word from France Television's director of sports programming that HD wouldn't be available for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, France 2 HD has already launched on CanalSat DTH and Numéricable. Unlike the Versus broadcast here, French viewers are also getting the Tour de France in HD and can expect the same from their Olympic coverage. Meanwhile Belgians can thank TV Vlaanderen for adding VRT's Eén HD temporarily to its DTH platform, delivering both events in HD, along with Belgacom TV adding Eén HD, France 2 HD, Eurosport HD and TF1 HD for a total of 13 high definition channels. Really, we can't see watching the Olympics any other way.

Read - Belgacom TV
Read - France 2
Read - VRT Eén HD

Right on cue, Eurosport HD has gone live. The high-definition sports network is currently airing in Poland on Cyfra+, Cyfrowy Polsat and N, Sweden on Com Hem and Denmark on YouSee. It's also slated to show up soon on a smattering of other European cable / satellite providers, though no specifics have been detailed just yet. Hit up the gallery to see a couple of comparison shots between the SD and HD variants -- looks good from here!

[Thanks, Arsenal and AreKK]