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BBC to go ahead with free digital
satellite TV service
BY A CORRESPONDENT
February 28, 2007
The governing body of the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has
provisionally approved the launch of
Freesat, a free-to-view digital
satellite television service.
The BBC Trust has announced that the
Freesat service would provide
“significant public value” and would
enable viewers to access channels from
BBC and other public-service
broadcasters via a satellite dish and
set-top box for a one-off fee which
has still to be agreed.
Freesat will be subscription-free and
guaranteed to stay that way for
licence-fee payers and would offer
them an additional way of accessing
digital TV and radio, according to the
BBC Trust.
The BBC Trust has recommended the
launch of free-to-view digital
satellite television service prior to
the process of switching off analogue
TV transmissions from 2008.
It will require every household in the
United Kingdom to switch over to
digital television by 2012. Seven
million homes across the UK have yet
to make the move.
A 28-day consultation will be held to
assess opinion on the BBC’s proposals
before they are formally approved.
The BBC and ITV had announced plans to
launch Freesat in September 2005.
While cost and content has yet to be
agreed, industry sources expect BBC’s
Freesat to be competitively placed to
rival ‘Freesat from Sky,’ launched by
Sky in October 2004, which offers 120
TV channels and over 80 radio
stations, for a one-off fee of £150,
including installation.
It is not clear whether the BBC and
ITV offerings will include the
possibility to upgrade to premium
packages, including Sky Sports and Sky
Movies, which is available on ‘Freesat
from Sky.’
According to Chitra Bharucha, acting
chairman of BBC, “as each UK nation
and region switches to digital, all
households that haven’t done so
already will have to choose a new way
to access television. One of the
benefits arising from digital
switchover will be greater choice for
viewers.
Freesat will be an alternative to
Freeview, the free-to-air digital
terrestrial service launched by BBC in
2002 which allows viewers to access
digital channels by buying a set-top
box for a one-off fee. But, it
currently reaches only three-quarters
of UK homes.
“To secure a successful switchover to
digital, there must be adequate choice
for those customers who are not able
to afford subscription-based
services,” Bharucha said.
At present, Rupert Murdoch’s Sky has
the satellite market to itself in the
UK. Sky has 8.4 million paying
customers.
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