ITC Made The Right DTT Choice, Says Mediaedge:cia

Mediaedge:cia is claiming that the ITC’s decision to award the DTT licences to the BBC/BSkyB consortium is the right one (see Free To Air Application Wins DTT Battle). It argues that research suggests a free to air option will open up the digital TV proposition to a wider potential audience, but adds that free hardware will be needed to achieve a complete digital conversion.

David Fletcher, head of research at Mediaedge:cia said: “If the BBC/Sky signal quality is an improvement on the ITV digital platform, so much the better, as there are significant numbers of flat-dwellers for whom DTT is the only practical option for receiving DTV.”

Looking back over research into consumer attitudes to DTV from 1998 onwards, Mediaedge:cia concludes that an increasing number of people reject a subscription-based DTV offer. Furthermore, they find that sport-based content is no longer a motivation for acquisition. Too much choice, it concludes, is a turn-off, not a turn-on and perceptions of multi-channel quality have decline over time.

All this suggests that the ITC decision is the “right result”, but Fletcher adds: “Channels [on the new service] may be free to air, but a £99 hardware hurdle still exists. Our research shows that amongst DTV ‘have-nots’ £75 is the average people are ‘prepared to pay’ for access. A further 13% of non-DTV households say they will only pay up to £50 and a massive 55% are not prepared to pay anything.”

Mediaedge:cia concludes that the next stage of DTV looks “assured” but says that to achieve analogue switch-off, free to air service that includes free hardware as well as free programming will be needed.

Mediaedge:cia www.mediaedgecia.com

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