The proposal the broadcaster submitted to the Independent Television Commission, under the name of the Digital Terrestrial Alliance, offers viewers a free-to-air service with the option of subscribing to a pay-TV option, called Freeview Plus.
It is up against a bid from the BBC, backed by BSkyB and transmission provider Crown Castle, which proposes a free-to-air only service, and two other bids backed by venture capitalists.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Channel 4 chief executive Mark Thompson said that when asked, 93% of homes still using their ITV Digital set-top boxes to watch digital TV said they would be interested in receiving a service that would allow them to upgrade to a pay-TV service.
According to Thompson, 76% of ITV Digital's 1.2m subscribers are still using its receivers to watch the free-to-air channels. Thompson also said that the Freeview Plus model would only need 350,000 subscribers to break even.
At the end of last week, ITV urged the BBC to abandon its own bid for the licence and join the Digital Terrestrial Alliance. ITV said it would be able to save £51m of licence-fee money by offering it reduced transmission costs for its four digital channels.
The ITC, which is currently considering all the bids for the licences, is set to announce its decision on Thursday.
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