The administrators of ITV Digital have announced a dramatic U-turn on their decision to charge customers £39.99 for their set-top boxes, which they will now be allowed to keep as a gift.
The climb down follows the unpopular move by ITV Digital’s liquidators, Grant Thonton, to collect over 1 million set-top boxes or ask the ex-customers to pay for them (see ITV Digital Liquidators To Retrieve Set Top Boxes). This provoked widespread hostility from former subscribers and further derision in the media, which has turned raking over the defunct channel’s ashes into something of a blood sport.
According to the Financial Times, ITV Digital parent companies Carlton and Granada are to purchase the set-top boxes on behalf of households who subscribed to the now defunct service.
It is understood that only 8,000 households sent the liquidators a cheque after one million letters were sent out requesting payment or return of the boxes.
Analysts have suggested that more people in multichannel homes watch the ITV2 channel on Freeview than on rival multichannel platforms such as satellite or cable. Therefore, Carlton and Granada were risking not only further bitterness over the fiasco, but also the possibility of alienating and significantly reducing their biggest market.
