United Kingdom - Broadcasting Free-to-air, Digital and Pay TV

Synopsis

Archived report: this report was archived in November 2003 and has not been updated. Material relating to the country’s FTA, Digital and Pay TV markets is updated in the United Kingdom - Convergence - Triple Play & Digital TV report. Britain has an advanced broadcasting industry. It was one of the first countries in Europe to embrace digital TV and the country now has a vibrant multichannel environment, largely due to the success of digital satellite TV and free-to-air digital terrestrial TV. Digital cable TV is also available. This report presents each of these markets, as well as the analogue free-to-air environment and related interactive TV sector, as a historical snapshot in 2003. Statistics are provided from authoritative sources such as the ITU and national regulatory bodies.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Free-to-air TV
• 3. Digital TV
  • 3.1 Market overview
  • 3.2 Digital terrestrial TV
    • 3.2.1 Analogue switch off
    • 3.2.2 Set-top boxes
    • 3.2.3 Freeview
    • 3.2.4 BT positioning itself against cable TV
    • 3.2.5 Analysis - ITV Digital: how not to do it
  • 3.3 Interactive TV
    • 3.3.1 Sample services
    • 3.3.2 Regulator’s interactive TV guidelines
• 4. Pay TV
  • 4.1 Market overview
  • 4.2 Cable TV
  • 4.3 Digital cable TV
  • 4.4 Satellite TV
• 5. Related reports

• Table 1 – Number of hours watched each day by age group
• Table 2 – Digital TV subscribers by operator – 2003
• Table 3 – Digital TV take-up by platform – 2003
• Table 4 – Free-to-air digital TV take-up – 2003
• Table 5 – Digital TV take-up by access technology – 2003
• Table 6 – Statistical overview of the pay TV market in the UK – 2003
• Table 7 – Estimated Pay TV subscribers – 1997 - 2002
• Table 8 – Cable TV subscribers – 1991 - 2002
• Table 9 – Satellite home antennas - 1992 – 2002

• Exhibit 1 – Snapshot of free-to-air TV broadcasters in the UK
• Exhibit 2 – Summary of basic digital TV packages
• Exhibit 3 – Sample ITV services in the UK