Communications Regulatory Authority

Great Britain is the European country that boasts the highest number of DTT
service numbers, and which stands in second place, after Finland, in terms of service
penetration. According to OFCOM, at the end of 2005, there were around 6.5 million
households using Freeview as the sole digital platform. The growth of the digital
terrestrial technology has been the main component contributing to the increase in the
diffusion of digital television in the country. At year end, 17.5 million households
(around 70% of all households with television) had access to digital terrestrial services.
As for the services offered on DDT, it is worthwhile to remember the launch, by Top
Up TV (an operator who, in March 2004, had started up a pay channel service on the
Freeview platform), of a pay-per-view service in partnership with Setanta. The Top Up
TB offering comprises 11 channels and the possibility to purchase, in pay-per-view
mode, the matches of the Scottish Premier League, for which Setanta has acquired the
rights.
With regard to this, OFCOM has decided to eliminate the rules, set in 2002, that
limited the supply of pay television services on the Freeview platform. Following the
OFCOM decision, these services will be able to be supplied also on the remaining
multiplexes prepared for digital terrestrial television. The broadcasters ITV, BBC,
Channel 4, and Channel Five have also initiated an experiment, to last six months, of
the supply of high-definition programmes on the digital terrestrial platform. The date for
the switch-off is set for the year 2012.
In Spain, after the period following the failure of the for-pay platform Quiero
TV, the Government drafted a new plan for the development of digital terrestrial
television. The service was relaunched from the month of November of last year. At the
present time there are around twenty channels available free of charge and over one
million DTT set-top boxes installed. To these must be added another 1.3 million
households that receive digital terrestrial television broadcasts through the local cable
operators, and around 200,000 who watch them through Telefónica’s IPTV service.
Catalonia is the first region in which the switch-off will be made (in 2009), and it is
planned to be carried out nationwide by the end of 2010.
In Sweden, the digital terrestrial pay-TV operator Boxer has, as of the end of
March of this year, 57,000 subscribers. The country is getting ready to pass quickly over
to DTT broadcasts: in fact, the switch-off is planned for 2008. With regard to this, it
should be considered that some zones (Northern Smaland, Gästrikland, and Gotland) are
already completely digitalized.
In France, the DTT offering took off in March of last year; later, in the autumn,
the free offering was joined by several for-pay channels provided by the operator
Canal+, which launched two packages (a basic and a premium package). At present
there are around 1.7 million households that have the equipment necessary for receiving
the digital terrestrial signal. To the DTT set-top boxes purchased must be added those of
the users of the IPTV services which also permit reception of the digital terrestrial
programmes.
42