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ITV in talks with Sky to end free channels (Merged)
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ITV has held talks with BSkyB about switching its advertiser-funded free-to-air digital channels such as ITV2 to subscription, meaning they would no longer be available to Freeview viewers.
The commercial broadcaster has been forced to consider the radical option in the face of the worst advertising downturn in its 54-year history. The move comes despite the free-to-air strategy having made ITV2, the youth-oriented entertainment channel that broadcasts shows including Britain's Got More Talent and American Idol, the most watched non-sports digital channel in the UK.
It is understood that ITV has held talks with BSkyB about switching ITV2, ITV3 – which focuses on classic ITV dramas such as Inspector Morse – and ITV4, home to more male-oriented programming such as live football, to subscription.
Under one option, ITV could pay a nominal carriage fee to BSkyB for broadcasting the channels and in return receive a guaranteed cut of revenues from channel packages sold to pay-TV subscribers. BSkyB remains ITV's largest shareholder, owning 17.9% of the company, despite having been told by competition regulators to reduce its stake to less than 7.5%.
Putting its digital channels behind a subscription wall would mark a sea-change in ITV's strategy and underlines the tough choices facing the company in the recession...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/01/itv-bskyb-pay-tv
The commercial broadcaster has been forced to consider the radical option in the face of the worst advertising downturn in its 54-year history. The move comes despite the free-to-air strategy having made ITV2, the youth-oriented entertainment channel that broadcasts shows including Britain's Got More Talent and American Idol, the most watched non-sports digital channel in the UK.
It is understood that ITV has held talks with BSkyB about switching ITV2, ITV3 – which focuses on classic ITV dramas such as Inspector Morse – and ITV4, home to more male-oriented programming such as live football, to subscription.
Under one option, ITV could pay a nominal carriage fee to BSkyB for broadcasting the channels and in return receive a guaranteed cut of revenues from channel packages sold to pay-TV subscribers. BSkyB remains ITV's largest shareholder, owning 17.9% of the company, despite having been told by competition regulators to reduce its stake to less than 7.5%.
Putting its digital channels behind a subscription wall would mark a sea-change in ITV's strategy and underlines the tough choices facing the company in the recession...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/01/itv-bskyb-pay-tv
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Moving ITV2 subscription would be an extremely bad move as they are well established on Freeview. As a sky subscriber to be asked to pay more for receiving the dross I get FTA at the moment is crazy. There's simply not enough quality in ITV's digital channels to want to pay for them.
It also raises questions over ITV's 50% involvement in Freesat and being part of Freeview. The only thing they could do is sell ITV2,3,4 via Top Up TV on DTT. I am sure many would rather see those slots bring back the Top up live service with proper channels like Discovery/Eurosport.
It would be a massive step back, possibly seeing others like C4 take E4/Film4 back to subscription in time. Sky's hike in subs can't go on forever they seem to be pushing and pushing trying to pinch programming and channels.
Bad move. I don't think Sky will ever let Freeview continue if they have the chance however I'd be surprised if this proposal came of anything. I suppose they could encrypt on Sky and provide them on DTT for free like what Virgin 1/4Music/Dave do?
If ITV go ahead with this plan, and considering the plans discussed in the Guardian article, I hope they are kicked out of the Freeview consortium and their digital channel slots are auctioned off to potential FTA channels.
Actually, thinking about it:
Sky having the highest bid for Virgin Media Television channels, Sky's rhetoric against Freeview, Sky trying to court Channel 4 (unsuccessfully) to pay TV and now ITV taking things further as well as the last minute abandonment of the launch of Quest on Freeview.
I don't want to start a conspiracy theory, but a lot has happened lately that makes me suspicious... I hope I am wrong, for the future of commercial FTA broadcasting in the UK.
In times of recession people tend to spend more on "domestic" activities like watching TV and renting DVDs, and less on perceived luxuries like holidays abroad.
Which may explain Sky's rise in subscriber numbers.
Since PVRs became mainstream and OFCOM rejected product placement, ITV2,3 and 4 going subscription has been inevitable. Too few people watch the ads. Full stop.
I agree it's possible.
They will try but Ofcom have to allow the plan to go ahead.
Sky Picnic was cancelled. Having ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, Virgin1, Virgin1+1, Sky Sports News, Sky News, Sky Three and Quest would be a fair mix of channels.
You could be looking at about 10 or 15 channels on a mini sky package.
Would also be possible for Viacom to let TMF become MTV and Nickelodeon, either as two streams or one timeshared stream, as I suggested could happen in the first consultation response I gave to Ofcom in regards to Picnic. Worst case scenario, Sky will have five 24hr slots, two 20hr slots (for Dave - unless it obtains the other four hours back from each) and ITV will provide four 24hr slots (I haven't included the 12hr CITV slot as Wales cannot receive it). Discovery could contribute one slot (particularly as it was part of the original Picnic plans) and Viacom another if they so wish. Sky could convert the lot to MPEG-4 and I guess could gain 3-7 channels. Let's hope it doesn't ever get that far down the road.
Let's hope for Freeview's sake that Ofcom continue to hold up the process and say no to them.
DTT you mean. They would never be part of Freeview and certainly not FTA.
It failed with ON/ITV Digital and it would fail again.
The ad revenue would drop like a stone because they would lose all their viewers from Freeview and once again ITV are overestimating the public interest in their output.
The public did not pay to get ITV2 when it was on ITV Digital.
ITV HD is not good enough to push Freesat sales - and that was when it was a Freesat exclusive.
ITV2/3/4 get viewers because they are free.
Who wants to pay for them?
It will simply dilute the available subscription money Sky shares out to other channels
Not always true. Non-essential things like Sky were the first thing I cancelled when things started getting hard.
Keep taking the tablets ............
They could go "pay tv" on Sky and stay free on Freeview.
Once the recession is over let's say mid 2010/2011 if they do go, advertising will rocket again and the channels that are left FTA would get more if there was less channels.
Businesses and channels forget it will recover. Closing all FTA channels would sort the problem during the recession is over but the money spent bidding for Freeview slots, pushing, marketing Freeview would be gone.
For a start there would be a mass "binning" of Freeview boxes as everybody who wanted ITV would have to pay for it. Typical greed and if ITV do enter subscription the contact would be lengthy so no bringing ITV2 back to free tv until about 2015 earliest.
The problem sky have is the prices won't stay the same forever and if they keep going up alot of people will do without. Freeview is popular due to low cost, if it was never launched DTT would be a dead technology. Most people would continue to watch channels 1 - 5.
There's so much up for discussion here. They will make us pay to watch a repeat of Coronation Street correct? I guess this is how E4 operated Hollyoaks in the subscription days? Some how going back doesn't work for me and the public are not crazy enough to pay for ITV.
Because if they expect me to pay for free channel content then they can go & kiss my ar*e. There is no way in hell that I am going to pay £145 per year for the f***king bbc & other bog standard channels on their own. :mad:
If they do remove the channels then I will watch these subscription programmes by other means & get my license fees monies worth.
That was my point I said earlier in this thread.
That is all very fine but do they continue to keep them on Freesat?
maths: 10million+9.3million+3million+others= 21,000,000+now , 9.3million+3million= 12m+ the channels would lose viewers and its not like digital channels get high viewing figures anyway.
I know the lineup is crap but itv would of wasted any money involved with setting up the venture and any running costs.
Let's be honest.
There's little content on Freesat, not much of Sky's FTA channels have joined.
If they take ITV2, 3, 4 off the platform is over. I can imagine it buy this box to get ITV1 and BBC 1 at a better picture? People will be forced to with the switch over but it may delay the last takers of digital tv.
The big audience would go. Yes sky can offer 9 million customers as can Virgin offer 3 million but 10m vs 10m FTA viewers. Anybody with Sky can watch ITV2 at the moment so they would no longer compete with E4/Dave but would be fighting pay channels such as Comedy Central, Living, Challenge, Sky1, Watch for viewing figures.
Sky would be effectively feeding the channel through the economic downturn leaving ITV less viewers in the long run.
Was there not talk here Sky also want C4 back pay? I can't see it happening it's too much of a long term risk. I'll be honest and say if ITV wants to be a big broadcaster moving sub is a bad idea.
In the modern digital age with youtube and Iplayer it would be a bad move. ITV have to decide if they want to compete with Sky1 or all digital channels.
It's more than the recession. More and more people have access to Sky+ / Freeview+, which means timeshifted viewing, which means skipping advertising. There is also much more competition for advertising budgets from increasingly sophisticated Internet platforms.
In order for channels to get more money from advertising, there needs to be fewer FTA channels.
Which would be great news for ITV, as the king of the mainstream commercial channels. They could end up getting more advertising revenue AND subscription income if they're successful in convincing more channels... like Quest, perhaps... to join a pay package.
The decline in advertising is not just due to the recession. There's a whole shift going on from television advertising to the internet - to sites like this for example. Which company gets most UK advertising? Google or ITV. Google!
The increase in the average number of stations per household after the digital switchover means that stations like ITV1 will have lower audience shares and therefore will only get lower advertising rates.