After Five was unsuccessful to suggest a launch date for Five HD, Ofcom has said that it will not appear on FreeView before 2012.

Last June, the media regulator had reached an interim decision to preserve capacity for Five on the new FreeView HD platform, with the aim of Five HD becoming available in 2010.

However, Five was "unable to resolve certain key criteria" at the end of last year, including its failure to notify Ofcom of an accurate launch date and schedule for the channel.

Meanwhile, Ofcom said that other contenders, Channel 4 and S4C, for the available capacity, were also incapable to provide "confirmation of their ability to launch a service within a defined timescale".

Today, in a verdict, the media regulator said that it has decided not to preserve capacity for either of the applicants at this time.

Next year, Ofcom aims to offer commercial public service broadcasters another opportunity to apply for a HD channel on FreeView from 2012.

According to The Guardian, A Five Spokesman confirmed that the broadcaster is "not in a position" to start the fourth Freeview HD channel at the moment.

"However, we remain committed to launching a HD version of Five and intend to apply for the fifth HD stream when Ofcom advertises it next year. We hope to provide the fifth service on the FreeView HD platform in 2012", he added.