Digital TV’s Future Depends On ITV Digital

ITV’s chief executive Stuart Prebble has warned that the future of digital TV in the UK depends on the success of ITV Digital.

Writing in today’s Media Guardian, Prebble said that the pay-per view platform is essential to Government’s plans to provide a “level playing field” between the three competing digital platforms, satellite, cable and digital terrestrial.

Prebble acknowledged that ITV Digital has cost three times as much as anticipated and has been a source of shareholder anxiety, but said that if it were allowed to close: “Digital terrestrial would become a platform for free to air channels only, with more than 1 million existing ITV Digital customers immediately losing their service, becoming easy prey for Sky.”

He added: “Sky would resume its near total dominance of the pay sector and anyone who wanted pay television would once again have to acquire a satellite dish or cable. With digital satellite becoming an ever larger portion of the total broadcasting in the UK all of the public service broadcasters would become ever more reliant on Sky for their distribution.”

Prebble, who has been an outspoken critic of the Government’s commitment to digital television in the past (see Prebble Demands Government Commitment To Digital), appealed for the swift implementation of the Digital Action Plan (see

Government Launches Digital TV Action Plan

Government Launches Digital TV Action Plan www.itvdigital.co.uk

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