Four Bidders Emerge For Digital Terrestrial Licences

Four bidders have emerged to take over the digital terrestrial TV licences made available following the collapse of ITV Digital (see Administrators Confirm ITV Digital Sale).

The ITC has received applications from a BBC and BSkyB alliance (see BBC Set To Join With BSkyB For Digital Bid) and one formed between ITV and Channel 4 (see ITV And Channel 4 Confirm Multiplex Application). Venture capital company Apex and existing digital TV operator SDN have also submitted bids.

The BBC and BSkyB application is based on a free-to-air digital offering that will carry all eight of the BBC’s existing digital channels. BSkyB’s Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel will also be available, as well as a new channel from UKTV called UK History.

The ITV and Channel 4 submission, which has been made through a new vehicle called the Digital Terrestrial Alliance, also includes free to air channels, but would offer customers the chance to upgrade to a subscription based model.

Both groups are likely to offer less channels than ITV Digital in order to improve the quality of the digital terrestrial signal, which caused problems for ITV Digital and is thought to have contributed to its high churn rate (see ITV Digital To Break Even By 2004).

Each of the applications will be subject to a seven day period of public consultation, which will conclude on 21 June. Following this the ITC will consider each proposal with a view to awarding the licences on 4 July.

ITC: 020 7306 7743 www.itc.org.uk

Recent Digital TV stories from NewsLine: BBC Set To Join With BSkyB For Digital Bid Big Brother Bigger Than Ever For C4 And E4 NTL Expands Digital TV Offering

Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive