Freeview will today tell the government that the cost to consumers of converting Britain to digital TV is likely to be in the region of £1 billion, a third more than previously estimated.
Research commissioned by Freeview and carried out by TNS Research, showed that the cost of digital terrestrial TV more than doubles for nearly a third of those who buy Freeview set-top boxes. Of 1,000 viewers interviewed, 29% claimed they had to spend an additional £80 to £100 in order to have their TV aerial upgraded once they bought their Freeview box.
This figure is in stark contrast with the 10% figure published in the ‘Digital TV Project’. The project, a partnership of government departments, TV equipment manufacturers and broadcasters, is due to be unveiled to the government ministers at the end of November.
“This 29% figure is significant because it implies that converting to digital is not going to be as straightforward or as cheap as the government thought,” claims a Freeview spokeswoman.
Allan Williams, senior policy adviser for the Consumers’ Association, commented: “Consumers benefit the most from digital TV but they also have to carry most of the cost.”
Last week, in its ‘Global Digital Forecasts’ report, Informa Media Group predicted that the UK will not be fully switched over to a digital signal until 2015 – five years after the government’s official target switch-off date of 2010. Informa says that consumer resistance from late adopters will be one of the factors adversely affecting digital penetration(see Full Digital TV Penetration Expected To Begin In 2014).
Informa’s predictions echo that of Ofcom. The communications regulator, in its ‘Driving Digital Switchover’ report, claims that in addition to a group of consumers that are unwilling to adapt to digital TV voluntarily, there is a signifcant number without digital TV who are not willing to subscribe to pay-TV. The combined effect, says Ofcom, is an upper ceiling on market-led digital take-up of around 85% of TV households – 10% lower than the 95% digital penetration figure required for analogue switch-off.
Pay-TV penetration rates are unlikely to rise far above 50% of households within the next decade and digital terrestrial coverage is limited to three-quarters of households before switchover, says Ofcom.
