Digital Plans Given Cautious Welcome
The announcement on Friday that BSkyB was joining forces with Granada and Carlton to launch a digital television service has been given a cautious welcome from the weekend’s broadsheets. The extra choice for viewers has been universally praised though concerns about the quality of programming and especially Rupert Murdoch’s intentions have been raised.
The plans would bring “an explosion of choice for British viewers” the Times gushed on the front page, while on page 7 its New York correspondent was more downbeat after describing the American experience of digital TV: “Viewers soon learn to channel-surf, endlessly pressing the buttons of their remote control devices in search of something decent to watch.” Hardly words of comfort for a TV industry desperately trying to hold together an already fragmenting audience. In Quentin Letts’ view, digital means that “more is less”.
The Daily Telegraph quipped that the first problem the consortium would face was finding a boardroom “big enough to hold the egos of its directors”. It also seemed that BSkyB teaming up with its rivals had not allayed fears of a Murdoch-dominated digital age. The paper questioned the consortium’s intentions, pointing out that it is “hard to tell whether this get-together is the formation of a digital monopoly, or merely the platform for the digital age.” It also proclaimed that British Digital Broadcasting, as the partnership is known, would sound the death-knell of the cable industry: “Their promise of dozens of high-clarity channels looks less attractive…Not for the first time, cable looks like a dead duct.”
The Independent followed on from the Telegraph and pronounced with its usual cynicism that even if a Murdoch monopoly had been prevented, “digital television will remain the province of an oligopoly for the foreseeable future.” It also feared that the “creative, commercial and financial tensions” that had brought the parties together could just as easily pull it apart, leaving BSkyB with the prized encryption technology. It believes that Mr Murdoch will, “as ever”, benefit from the consortium the most, being a convenient way of becoming involved with both aspects of the digital arena for the small price of £100m, complementing the 200-channel digital satellite launch which is due for the autumn.
The Guardian believes that digital terrestrial TV will “offer a lot of improvements” such as more channels, more interactivity and clearer pictures. It goes on to say that Sky’s presence will boost BDB’s chances of commercial success whilst creating a “teaser” for its digital satellite launch. Similarly to the Independent the paper believes that “BSkyB has shrewdly taken out an each way bet” on the future of digital television.
The FT takes a different tack and believes that Carlton and Granada benefit the most since they will probably now get a look-in on BSkyB’s film and sport exclusives. It also predicts that if the new channels are competitively priced they “should be able to carve out a market” among those who want some extra channels but do not want to pay for as many as 200.
What the papers did agree on was that BDB has the best chance of being the preferred bidder in the race for a digital licence. The Department of National Heritage “warmly welcomed” the bids for the digital terrestrial television multiplex licences.