Brussels, 13/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Conference on High Definition (HDTV) organised by the Luxembourg presidency on 7 June in Luxembourg brought together around 300 government representatives and decision makers from the private sector. They pointed out that Europe was widely committed to high definition television and that almost 30 million European homes would be equipped with high definition televisions by 2010 (according to Euroconsult statistics). Content producers had indicated that HDTV will be indispensable to maintaining competitiveness in Europe but that there were also several challenges to be met: know-how in production, investments, cooperation between actors. Industrial leaders and providers of technological solutions indicated that audiovisual companies were currently equipping themselves with HDTV, a development that will speed up over the next two years and whose essential challenge will be the fight against piracy. Distributors confirmed that the first HDTV channels were launched this year and that offers would be increasing, especially in Germany, France and the United Kingdom, over the next two years. A panel has revealed the challenges facing European regulators over the question of frequency, support for content production and environmental competitiveness. Jean-Louis Schilz, Luxembourg minister of communications, expressed his support for HDTV deployment in Europe in an effort to catch up with the USA and some Asian countries. Commissioner Viviane Reding, in charge of the information society underlined the considerable benefits of HDTV with programme content and the new services (interactivity and on-line services). She pointed out that the Commission had recommended 2012 as the Community deadline for ceasing linear diffusion. She welcomed the agreement with industry representatives on digital interoperability of high definition (which plans on the compatibility between different parameters and the systems currently being proposed), as well as the labelling system for HD compatible screens. She also highlighted the importance of contents production and announced that digital would be a priority in the Media 2007 programme