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13.06.02

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´óÏó´«Ã½ and Crown Castle submit complementary applications for digital terrestrial television licences

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Crown Castle UK have submitted complementary applications for the three digital terrestrial television (DTT) licences advertised by the ITC.

The proposals for these three multiplexes will, when added to the free-to-view services already on the platform, offer an exciting range of 24 free-to-view quality channels as well as improved interactivity.

´óÏó´«Ã½ Research shows that as many as 11 million households are not yet interested in pay-TV.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Crown Castle plan to offer these households a true digital alternative – digital TV without pay.

Through the purchase by consumers of a digital adaptor for under £100 or an integrated digital television, these plans will bring the greater choice that digital offers within reach of everyone in the UK.

In turn this will help to achieve the policy supported by all three main political parties of achieving digital switch-over for the whole country.

The new channels available free-to-view will include three channels from British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) - Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel – as well as a new channel from UKTV – UK History, showcasing quality programming on a subject which has grown enormously in popularity in recent years.

Other channels expected to join the service at launch include Turner Classic Movies, Boomerang, CNN International, the Community Channel, a music channel and a family entertainment channel.

´óÏó´«Ã½ Digital radio services as well as commercial radio services may also be available on DTT via the television set.

The service will carry all eight of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s existing digital channels.

From CBeebies, offering the highest level of originally-produced programming for pre-school children, to the music, theatre and live debate of ´óÏó´«Ã½ FOUR, to the rolling news service provided by ´óÏó´«Ã½ NEWS 24, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s digital channels offer a rich range of services offering something for all audiences.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ will not launch any new channels but will, for the first time on DTT, be able to offer an exciting range of interactive services, such as Wimbledon Interactive, that have become so popular with satellite viewers.

Critically, the plans include a technical proposal to solve the to the technical problems which dogged ITV Digital and contributed to its eventual demise.

The legacy of technical and consumer issues left by the previous licence holder are considerable.

The need to remedy these problems, restore consumer confidence and develop the DTT platform into a sustainable proposition is at the heart of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Crown Castle’s decision to apply for the licences.

With only 40% of UK households currently able to receive all DTT channels without a new aerial, there is an urgent need to invest in and radically improve the technical reliability of the DTT platform.

This will require a reduction in capacity from six to four channels per multiplex.

Tests carried out by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ conclusively demonstrate that broadcasting more than four channels results in unacceptable picture quality and a high level of consumer complaints.

Overall, the planned changes will ensure that many more people will be able to receive the DTT service and fewer people will need a new television aerial.

If the applications are successful, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Crown Castle will join together with BSkyB to form a cost recovery venture to provide technical and marketing services in support of the three multiplexes.

Offering this easy-to-understand, broad range of new and existing free-to-view channels, combined with the widespread availability of low cost digital television adapters, will motivate people who have so far not adopted digital to make the move to digital.

DTT will then become a genuine digital alternative. The combined wealth of broadcasting knowledge and experience which the consortium can draw on is unrivalled.

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is the UK's most trusted broadcaster and, with its portfolio of digital channels and services, is committed to ensuring that free-to-view digital television is universally available.

Crown Castle brings many years of technical expertise. Together with BSkyB, the UK's foremost digital television operator, the group is uniquely positioned to realise the full potential of DTT.

Notes To Editors

DTT: DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) provides a range of digital television services to viewers via their existing aerials. The three multiplexes now being applied for were formerly used by ITV Digital.

Proposed Free-To-View Package: The channel line-up for the platform is expected to be as follows (channels new to the platform shown in bold):

- Mixed Genre: ´óÏó´«Ã½ ONE, ´óÏó´«Ã½ TWO, ´óÏó´«Ã½ CHOICE, ITV 1, ITV 2, Channel 4, Channel 5, S4C,A general entertainment channel (tbc)

- News and Sports News: ´óÏó´«Ã½ NEWS 24, Sky News, Sky Sports, News, CNN, ITN

- Culture, History & Ideas: ´óÏó´«Ã½ FOUR, UK History

- Movies: TCM (Turner Classic Movies)

- Children's: C´óÏó´«Ã½,CBeebies, Boomerang

- Citizenship: ´óÏó´«Ã½ PARLIAMENT,The Community Channel, S4C2

- Other: Sky Travel, QVC, TV Travelshop

- Interactivity:´óÏó´«Ã½i (Interactive television and text), Other interactive services (tbc)

- Radio: Six ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio services, Commercial radio services (tbc)

- Music: A music channel (tbc)

These will be distributed across six multiplexes as follows:

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