Top Up TV Confirms End Of March Launch Date
Top Up TV, the new pay-television service offering Freeview customers a range of ten additional channels, has announced that it will launch on 31 March.
The new service will initially only be available to viewers using old ITV Digital boxes, requiring a viewing card to decode the Top Up TV signal. The channel line-up, including E4, UKTV Gold, Discovery Channel and Turner Classic Movies costs £7.99 a month, plus a connection fee of £20.
The new service has the potential to reach 2.5 million viewers, following a surge in the sale of Freeview boxes in the run up to Christmas. However, the service has already caused mumblings of controversy, as the package includes the option to subscribe to adult channel, Television X, although this requires a separate fee and will otherwise be scrambled (see Freeview Sales Soar In Run Up To Christmas).
Last month saw testing of Top Up TV’s systems disrupt the BBC’s digital broadcasts, as some models of digital television were overloaded by the new channels, temporarily wiping BBC stations from their memory. Top Up TV denied the fault was caused directly by their tests, leaving manufacturers, including market leader Sony, to update the software required to accept the increased number of broadcasts.
Top Up is the brainchild of former Sky executives, David Chance and Ian West, who departed the satellite giant to pursue the project. The founders have set themselves a target of of 250,000 subscribers within two years, aiming to entice those who are interested in premium entertainment channels, but who are uninterested in sport and movie packages.
Fears have also been raised that the introduction of a pay-television alternative could stunt Freeview’s growth. Carolyn Fairburn, the BBC’s director of strategy and distribution, previously warned that any attempt to introduce subscription viewing could be disastrous, claiming it “could stop Freeview in its tracks after we’ve only just managed to cut through the confusion”.
However, research published this month revealed that more than half of UK households are still unaware of the difference between analogue and digital television. Despite a series of high-profile advertising campaigns a staggering 48% of licence fee payers do not know how to receive the BBC’s digital terrestrial service, Freeview, a stumbling block which could impede the progress of Top Up TV (see Majority Of UK Viewers Confused Over Digital Television).
Freeview: 08708 80 99 80 www.freeview.co.uk Top Up TV: 08700 543 210 www.topup.tv
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