Digital TV Services Fall Behind Schedule

Interactive television services company, Open is yet to launch on the Sky Digital platform, despite a planned first stage Spring roll-out. The company, which is joint owned by BSkyB, Matsushita, HSBC (Midland Bank) and BT, eventually plans to offer home shopping, banking, games and email.

However, a spokesperson for Open said that the first stages of the service are now expected to be available to Sky Digital customers in the next couple of weeks. The full range of services is not expected until Autumn. Open is to announce specific launch dates for the various interactive services within the next week or so.

Industry sources claim that Open has been experiencing some set-backs with the interactive software running on certain set-top boxes and that this is one reason that the service launch has been delayed.

Meanwhile, DTT operator ONdigital is yet to add the neccessary software to receive digital teletext broadcasts originally planned for launch in April. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) set an initial deadline of 1 April for digital Teletext’s launch on DTT, but has been lenient with the digital operator and did not impose a fine when this launch date was missed.

Both Teletext and BBC Digital Text are now ready to launch but are awaiting the necessary software to be downloaded to ONdigital’s set-top boxes. French pay-TV company Canal Plus is the major provider of the software to ONdigital. A spokesperson for the ITC said that the Commission recognises there has been a genuine technical problem in developing the software and is happy that the parties involved are “doing their best to implement a very complicated task.”

It is expected that ONdigital’s launch of digital Teletext is still at least a month away. A preview of the service was given at the LIVE ’98 exhibition at Earl’s Court, London in August last year (see

Open: 0171 489 7770 Teletext: 0171 386 5000 ONdigital: 0171 819 8000