BBC Calls For Free-To-Air Digital Satellite Service
The BBC has called on the Government to aid the development of a free-to-air digital satellite service to help make the transition from analogue to digital television as smooth as possible.
The request was made in the Corporation’s first report on the digital switchover process, entitled Progress Towards Achieving Digital Switchover, which welcomes the opportunity to work with other organisations to ‘make a non-subscription digital satellite option a reality’.
Andy Duncan, director of marketing, communications and audiences at the BBC said: “By working with like-minded partners we would like to see an additional route to digital access – free-to-air digital satellite – become a viable and attractively simple option. This will ensure all our audiences can have access to the BBC’s comprehensive portfolio of digital services and the fully digital world.”
The report follows a similar call made earlier this month by Ofcom chief executive, Stephen Carter, for the Government to set a firm timescale for digital switchover and to examine further avenues to increase digital take-up (see Ofcom Chief Calls For Confirmed Digital Switchover Date).
Also included in the BBC report was a request for a dedicated organisation to manage the switchover process. A similar recommendation was echoed recently by Ofcom. which proposed the creation of a group called Switchco to mastermind the regional phasing out of analogue television.
The BBC also stated that further funding for the marketing of digital television would be required in order for a smooth transition from analogue. The Corporation has launched several campaigns to communicate the benefits of digital, which have concentrated almost exclusively on the Freeview digital terrestrial service. However, the latest drive towards a fully digital Britain will require the BBC to promote the switchover across multiple platforms, with no emphasis on any one route or service provider.
Responding to the report, Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, said: “This Government is absolutely committed to working with the industry to achieve digital switchover. The potential rewards, including more choice for consumers and more space for new services, are too great for us not to be.”She added: “Of course there are obstacles along the way, many of which are highlighted in this report. We are already considering what interventions are needed from Government and industry to overcome these in the journey to switchover. This report will help us focus on the challenges ahead.”
Earlier this month the BBC launched its biggest ever pro-digital marketing push with a cross-platform campaign conveying the benefits of digital. The campaign follows on from the success of the Corporation’s autumn push, which prompted more than 2.5 million people to contact the BBC for more information on Freeview (see BBC Pushes Digital With Biggest Ever Marketing Campaign).
Freeview now accounts for almost a third of the UK’s digital television market and has been hugely successful in converting older viewers and new research from IPSOS shows that nearly half of all UK Households now receive digital television.
However, it has been claimed that the majority of digital refuseniks are more concerned with the quality of channels and low budget programming rather than the technicalities of the switchover process. A study by the Generics Group published in January claimed that a hard core of anti-digital households accounts for 6% of the population, claiming they will never buy digital equipment, even if it means having to stop watching television altogether (see Government Faces Backlash Against Analogue Switch-Off).
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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