Digital Terrestrial TV Prospects Are Brighter Than ITV Digital’s Closure Suggests
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) has better prospects than might be suggested by the failures of ITV Digital in the UK and Quiero in Spain, according to a new study published by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
The EBU notes that ITV Digital and Quiero both failed as DTT businesses, but sees better prospects from other models. “The failure of ITV Digital and Quiero are failures of two business models under specific market conditions… There are a number of innovative approaches elsewhere in Europe that may result in happier endings,” says EBU secretary general Jean Stock.
The Union predicts that Finland will have will have a strong DTT offer by autumn 2002; France will launch a rich line-up of 33 DTT channels in autumn 2003, including many free to air; the Netherlands and Portugal will be on-air with DTT before the end of the year and Norway and Denmark may consider accelerated switch-off plans for analogue broadcasting that could leapfrog the countries ahead in DTT development.
New ventures will learn from ITV Digital’s demise These new ventures will have learned from ITV Digital and Quiero to avoid direct competition with cable and satellite pay operators and to steer clear of the set-top box business, says the EBU.
The report says that interactivity, internet access, portability and mobility will not be strong drivers, adding that equipment prices are now nearing mass adoption level.
The UK is expected to lead Europe in the adoption of interactive TV (iTV) according to a separate report from Forrester Research (see European Interactive TV Penetration To Hit 44% By 2007). However, satellite and cable will be by far the dominant platforms, as shown.
UK Government analogue switch-off targets The UK Government is hoping to achieve a 95% penetration of overall digital television by 2010, at which point it would cease broadcasting the analogue signal. BSkyB has already switched off its analogue broadcasts.
However, the penetration of digital TV, according to Merrill Lynch, will only reach 73.8% by 2010 (see BSkyB Will Lead DTV Market Until 2010, But Cable Growth Is Higher), considerably below the Government’s target, as shown.