Dyke warns of digital last chance

Dyke has warned digital TV has one more chance

Digital terrestrial television (DTT) has one last chance to succeed, BBC director general Greg Dyke has said.

The BBC is making a joint bid to take over the broadcasting licences given up by the defunct pay-TV platform ITV Digital.

It wants set-top boxes for £100 allowing access to 24 free channels.

DTT is not like the railways.... it is very close to disappearing for good

Greg Dyke

The other bidders are a consortium led by the ITV franchise holders behind ITV Digital, Carlton and Granada, who want a limited pay-to-view system, venture capital company Apax, and SDN, the minority digital terrestrial operator.

Mr Dyke told an Institute of Economic Affairs conference on the future of broadcasting that if the BBC bid was successful the country could see the analogue signal completely switched off within the decade.

Some in the television industry have dismissed the notion that "switchoff" will be possible by 2010, a stated aim of the government.

But he warned that if a pay-platform won the battle to use the licences and followed the same path as ITV Digital there would be no third chance for the concept of digital through an aerial.

Digital leap

He said: "DTT is not like the railways. After the catastrophic failure of ITV Digital, it is very close to disappearing for good.

"In the nearer term, consumers would lose the option of a low-cost, easy way to take the leap to digital.

"But more importantly in the longer term, analogue switch off and digital switchover would simply not be possible."

This is not a time for splitting differences, backroom politics or settling old scores

Mr Dyke

Mr Dyke defended the corporation's alliance with Sky because of their knowledge of making new platforms work and their customer service.

And he reiterated his belief that if a bidder won who risked the future of digital terrestrial, the BBC would have to seriously consider whether to commit any more resources.

"We're already spending around £20m a year on DTT to reach around a million people - this is not good value for licence fee money.

"There is only one last chance for DTT. This is not a time for splitting differences, backroom politics or settling old scores.

"Every citizen of the UK has a right to reap the rewards on offer from digital technology."