ONdigital And Bush Offer Digital TV Sets For £500
ONdigital announced at a press conference this morning that 110,000 households have subscribed to its digital terrestrial service since the launch in November last year (see Newsline). Stephen Grabiner, chief executive of ONdigital, commented: “We have built the world’s first digital terrestrial pay television business from scratch. Our early subscriber base is strong and we are turning more and more people onto pay television every week.”
ONdigital also announced a deal with electrical manufacturer Bush, which will manufacture TV sets that have ONdigital access built in. Bush will distribute 100,000 of these sets to retailers over the next year. The sets will be priced at £499; currently customers have to pay £200 for the set-top box required to receive DTT – this box is built in to the integrated TV sets. Through this venture, ONdigital is hoping to attract custom from the three to four million people who buy a new television each year.
The new Philips integrated digital TV will go on sale later this month, and to follow are sets from Toshiba, Sanyo and LG. Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, Samsung, Grundig and JVC are also expected to launch integrated digital terrestrial TVs this year which will be able to receive the free-to-air ONdigital channels, and other channels, but only with an ONdigital plug-in module. The plug-in will allow access to the new free email service (which will require an infra-red keyboard) and pay-per-view TV.
ONdigital made 30,000 sales in March alone, according to its figures, and like for like claims to be ahead of Sky Digital. Sky’s digital satellite service has approximately 130,000 brand new subscribers (that is, those who were not just upgrading from their previous analogue Sky package). Sky Digital launched before ONdigital in October 1998 (see Newsline). Overall, however, Sky claimed 350,000 subscribers to its satellite digital service by the end of January this year (see BSkyB Profits Fall Following Sky Digital Launch, But Targets Are Met).
According to Grabiner, ONdigital is enjoying a 95% brand recognition after the past five months of marketing, and DTT coverage has increased from 70% to 75% since the service launched; coverage is on target for 90% by 2000, he said.
A range of new programming from ITV was introduced, as well as details about the interactive services and developments in digital television equipment. New programming for ONdigital, provided by ITV, will include exclusive Coronation Street and Emmerdale specials, as well as series of Prime Suspect and Inspector Morse. Sports-wise, the new UEFA Champions League will also be broadcast exclusively on DTT from September. MTV is expected to join the network in June, with Nickelodeon and the Paramount Channel climbing on board next year, and the Nursery Channel and Rapture also expected to follow suit.
Fielding questions from the floor, Grabiner dodged laying down a subscriber target for the end of the year. He mentioned that cable provider NTL is keen to have a service on DTT, as are various other groups with whom ONdigital is currently in discussions. Grabiner concluded that ONdigital is very happy with the rate of uptake of the service, and commented: “With new, high profile programming from ITV, the exclusive UEFA Championships League and integrated digital terrestrial televisions at a price everybody can afford, ONdigital has a great future.”
ONdigital: 0171 819 8000