ITV Scoops Crown Castle’s Extra Freeview Capacity
Crown Castle has awarded its empty Freeview slot to ITV, allowing the broadcaster to further extend its presence on the free-to-air terrestrial platform and dashing Channel 4’s hopes of launching a new channel this year.
The decision was announced by broadcast infrastructure company, Crown Castle, this morning, giving ITV extra broadcast capacity on multiplex D, currently used by UKTV Bright Ideas, ftn and several digital radio stations.
A spokeswoman for ITV refused to be drawn on which channel would be launched in the new broadcast space, although speculation has suggested that ITV4 could use the slot, with a simultaneous launch on the Sky platform using the space currently occupied by Granada Men and Motors (see ITV To Replace Men And Motors With ITV4).
Commenting on the deal, Peter Abery, Crown Castle’s chief executive officer, said: “This is good news for everybody involved: Crown Castle because it has been able to take advantage of improvements in infrastructure technology and maximise the value of scarce DTT resource, ITV because it is able to increase the number of platforms its range of channels are available on, and for Freeview viewers. We are also very pleased to have ITV as a channel customer on our multiplex.”
Charles Allen, ITV’s chief executive added: “One of our strategic objectives is to grow ITV’s successful multi channel business and we are therefore delighted to have secured additional capacity on this platform. We will now build on the tremendous success of ITV2 and ITV3 by expanding the range of our offering on the digital platform where our channels perform best.”
The battle for control of Crown Castle’s remaining DTT bandwidth has raged since January, when the company announced that improvements in compression technology would enable it to shoehorn another channel into its existing airspace (see Crown Castle Puts New Freeview Channel Up For Grabs).
However, while interest in the sale was initially intense, the competition was soon whittled down to two key players; ITV and Channel 4, as Crown Castle declined to invite Five, Disney, Turner Broadcasting, Sit-Up TV and Top-Up TV back to continue their bids.
Channel 4 was believed to have been considering the space for a free-to-air version of entertainment channel, E4, although speculation also suggested that an interactive gambling channel could also be on the cards (see ITV To Face Channel 4 Over Empty Freeview Slot).
The broadcaster will not be too disheartened by its failure to secure Crown Castle’s bandwidth, however, with director of television, Kevin Lygo, confirming at the launch of Channel 4’s spring schedule that it has the capacity for up to four channels on digital terrestrial. The revelation means that, even with Channel 4 and More4 available to Freeview Homes, there is the potential to take E4 free-to-view and still create a new, fourth channel, without the need for Crown Castle’s airspace (see Channel 4 Bets On Drama For Spring Schedule).
Crown Castle UK: 01926 416000 www.crowncastle.co.uk ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com
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