A high-definition simulcast of ITV1 will be launched on Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media next month.

An on-demand online cloud-based gaming service is going head to head with gaming consoles such as Sony’s PS3, Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox by allowing users to play full games downloaded to their TVs and PCs.

Department store group John Lewis reported another bumper week of trade with sales 16 per cent ahead of the same week a year ago.

The number of Europe’s HD channels is expected to triple by 2013.

The John Lewis Partnership, parent company of John Lewis department stores and the Waitrose grocery chain, saw total sales grow 6.5 per cent to £7.4 billion in the year to January 30.

Argos reported a 9.4 per cent fall in like-for-like sales in the final eight weeks of its financial year ending February 27.

Adam Singer has been appointed chairman of Digital Radio UK, the organisation that will be preparing the UK for digital radio switchover.

Software giant Microsoft is now rolling out its own video-on-demand service.

Sony is reported to be planning to launch 3DTVs in Japan on June 10.

Research and Development tax credits should be targeted at high-tech companies, small businesses and new start-ups in order to stimulate a new wave of technology – and when public finances allow, the rate should be increased to 200 per cent.

Gas cookers were implicated in seven of 17 deaths and in 10 of 56 incidents caused by carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2009, according to the Corgi Trust.

Sky has chosen London’s Westfield shopping centre for the first in a series of public demonstrations of 3D TV in 100 shopping centres across the UK over the next 12 months.

Range cooker maker Leisure is sponsoring daytime cookery show Country House Cooking Contest which starts today on ITV.

Chancellor Alistair Darling (pictured) should use his last Budget before the election to deliver a detailed and credible plan for balancing the books by 2015-16, two years earlier than planned, a leading business organisation has said.

BSkyB is to create more than 500 jobs at a new call centre in Stockport, Greater Manchester, Sky News reported.

Wales is set to become the UK’s first fully digital TV nation at the end of this month, as its final and largest switchover gets under way.

Department store group John Lewis notched up sales in the week to February 27 that were 14.8 per cent ahead of last year.

Following the creation of a new market strategy across the Americas, the TC Group has brought it over here for all its brands – including Tannoy, TC Electronic, TC Helicon, Blue Microphones, Dynaudio Acoustics, Lab.gruppen and Lake.

Interest rates have been kept on hold at 0.5 per cent by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

Onkyo is the latest brown-goods company to join the growing list of associate members of the British Audio-Visual Dealers Association (BADA).

Small firms have less than a month to contest the level of business rates they have paid over the past five years.

Total shop price inflation fell to 1.7 per cent in February, down from 2.3 per cent in January.

Consumer confidence soared to its highest level for two years last month and expectations were ahead of anything seen since records began.

Set-top box maker Pace has reported a 168 per cent rise in pre-tax profits.

In a controversial move, BBC director-general Mark Thompson is to ditch two digital radio stations – BBC 6 Music and Asian Network – following a strategic review.

A Y2K-style bug stopped owners of older PlayStation 3 consoles from accessing Sony’s online games network.

Whirlpool Corporation has won the 2010 Energy Star Sustained Excellence award from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

An online petition calling on the Government to scrap its planned rise in employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) has been set up by leading retail and business groups.

If the Chancellor concentrates on tax increases rather than public spending cuts in next month’s Budget, the country runs the risk of returning to recession, warn retail chiefs.