BBC Digital?

The BBC is expected to step in to offer a replacement service of channels if ITV Digital closes down after Easter.

Most of the set-top boxes that allow viewers to access the service are the property of ITV Digital, which subsidised the cost to consumers.

There would be little point in collecting the boxes as they have no resale value and are already becoming outdated. They could however, form the basis of a new free-to-air digital network.

Any former ITV Digital customer would still be able to receive all the free-to-air channels, including BBC Choice, ITV2, CBeebies, CBBC and BBC4.

Oliver Durkin, the founder of SetPal, a free-to-air, set-top box company, said it was time to close the book on terrestrial digital as a pay television operation and leave the job to BSkyB and the cable companies.

'It's now time to categorically disassociate digital TV from pay TV and to associate digital terrestrial with free-to-air TV,' Durkin said.

Dozens of channels - such as MTV, E4, UK Gold, UK Horizons, UK Style and Discovery - will lose more than a million viewers overnight if ITV Digital closes down after the Easter break.

(from waveguide)



(Edited by benjiman at 11:48 pm on Mar. 25, 2002)

More than a million viewers, there's a million subscribers and most of them probably have several people in their house

Is the BBC going to be the service provider for Boxco?

Yeah, I think I've mentioned this in a previous thread though.

I think the BBC should takeover ITVD. But who knows, maybe the government won't allow it!

They'd be stupid if they didn't allow it. Why wouldn't they?

What channels are the BBC going to provide tho? Every channel they launch has to be approved by the culture secretary, which takes forever (look at BBC Three). Only BBC Worldwide could launch channels, so these would be commercial. But BBC-branded commercial channels can't be carried here. I'm wondering if they are simply going to try and revamp the content of their existing channels to improve the choice for ex-ITVD viewers.

They won't make new channels, this simply means that they will be the provider of existing Digital terrestrial channels - basically taking over from ITV Digital.

Surely the BBC Worldwide-owned UKTV channels could be made free-to-air.. after all the ad breaks are 7 minutes long already.  Plus if some of the current pay channels are removed (Sky One, E4...) there would be more potential room for say two entire UKTV muxes, allowing channels such as UKGold2, UKFood and UKHorizons +1 to be broadcast; plus possible room for Sky News and other 'minority' channels available on DSat.  

There could even be spare bandwidth available for the Beeb to expand its DTT interactive services, offering similar mosaic channels as DSat have.

Twoway TV also would be able to expand its gaming potential with more channel space available, and of course ITV Select could still broadcast on 50-56 ... possibly!!

Am I making wild stupid ideas here??

(Edited by nodnirG kraM at 11:44 pm on Mar. 25, 2002)

I think E4 is planned to become free-to-air.

Well even better! I doubt SKY|one would ever become FTA but the Granada and Carlton channels possibly could (GPlus, Carlton Cinema etc). Who knows!?