ITV Digital Creditors Lose More Than £1 Billion

ITV Digital, the defunct pay-TV operator, has been put into liquidation and the trail of creditors which includes BSkyB, the Football League and Crown Castle International will see little of the £1.25 billion due to them.

Liquidator, Grant Thornton, has valued the company’s remaining assets at £27.3 million, a paltry sum compared with the £1 billion that Carlton and Granada invested in the failed platform. ITV Digital Holdings, the parent firm set up by the two broadcasters, is the main creditor at £402 million while BSkyB is believed to be owed in excess of £200 million.

However, it was the inability to honour a contract with the Football League which pushed ITV Digital to the brink. The company had paid £315 million for the rights to broadcast matches from the start of last season but was unable to attract sufficient viewers or revenue.

ITV Digital went into administration in March and finally ceased broadcasting a month later when it became clear that a new buyer could not be found. An attempt by the League to recoup some of the £178.5 million owed to its clubs ended in failure at the High Court.

Crown Castle, the transmitter operator, is owed £166 million from the collapse of ITV Digital but joined forces with the BBC and BSkyB to launch a successful bid for the vacated DTT licences. The result is Freeview, a free-to-air digital service that launches at the end of this month.

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