A spokesman for Carlton said that talks were in the early stages about the future of free-to-air digital broadcasting in UK. If successful, the talks could secure the future funding of ITV Digital, the service it jointly owns with Granada.
Reports earlier today suggested that, for the second time in recent months, the BBC was discussing a rescue plan for ITV Digital with its two parents.
The broadcasters are said to be in talks about a so-called digital coalition scheme involving all four terrestrial broadcasters -- the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and potentially Channel 5. However, according to a report in the Financial Times, the scheme would not cost the BBC any money. This is an important point in its favour as the issue of spending licence-payers' money on commercial ventures is a politically thorny one.
The plan would see the terrestrial broadcasters pool their digital terrestrial broadcast and transmission operations. The plan would also see the development of a set-top box, which would deliver 20 free digital TV channels and be sold on the high street for £100.
Then, if users wanted to subscribe to premier channels, including sports or movie services, they could upgrade to a service provided by ITV Digital by buying a smartcard for between £20 and £40 to slot into the set-top box.
ITV Digital could then stop giving away free set-top boxes and save around £100m in losses and make further cost savings.
The initiative, believed to be weeks away from completion, aims to reduce the amount of money it will cost Carlton and Granada to keep ITV Digital going until it breaks even from £300m to £150m. This is on top of the £800m they have already spent.
However, such a plan is likely to meet strong opposition from the commercial sector, particularly from BSkyB. It would doubtless see the move as tantamount to State aid as its rivals are allowed to gang up on it.
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