LONDON (Brand Republic) - The BBC is expected to hold talks with ITV companies Carlton and Granada about helping fund the set-top boxes that are given to ONdigital customers as an incentive to sign up to the service.
Carlton and Granada, which jointly own ONdigital, have been spending as much as £300m a year on offering subsidised subscription packages to their service, which carries the BBC鈥檚 digital channels free of charge.
The BBC currently pays ONdigital rival Sky £10m a year for conditional access. It is hoped that the corporation could pay the digital terrestrial broadcaster as much as £20m because more people watch the BBC on ONdigital than watch it on Sky.
If the agreement is reached it could see a continuation of subsidised subscription packages from ONdigital. The digital terrestrial broadcaster is this week expected to announce a series of cost-cutting measures, which are expected to bring an end to the set-top box giveaway.