BSkyB to launch DTT pay-TV

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Satellite broadcaster BSkyB is to launch a pay-TV service on digital terrestrial television later this year.
The new service will allow customers to receive some of Sky's most popular programming, including live Premiership football and Holllywood films.

BSkyB's new DTT pay-TV offering will use compression technology to squeeze four services out of the spectrum currently used by its three Freeview channels - Sky Three, Sky News and Sky Sports News.

Customers will pay a monthly subscription to get the service through a conventional rooftop aerial and a digital TV box.

To access the service, customers will have to buy a new set-top box that includes the relevant conditional access software and MPEG4 decoder - suggesting it will not be available via existing Freeview DTT receivers.

The move raises the stakes in the looming battle with Irish company Setanta, which is offering Premiership football on DTT for a monthly subscription from August.

It also comes on the day that cable group NTL-Telewest rebranded as Virgin Media and vowed to turn up the heat on Sky in the pay-TV arena.

Sky's new service will also be a direct competitor to existing DTT pay-TV outfit Top Up TV.

Sky said the service - whose launch is dependent on approval from media watchdog Ofcom - would use a highly secure conditional access system similar to the one it uses for its satellite television service.

Once the service launches manufacturers will have the opportunity to produce compatible set-top-boxes and other DTT receivers, Sky said.

"By bringing back some of the UK's most popular pay-TV content to the DTT platform, Sky aims to create more choice for customers who are interested in upgrading from free-to-air to pay-TV," Sky said in a statement.

"This represents an attractive commercial opportunity, benefiting from existing investments in programming and infrastructure, and attracting new customers to Sky over and above current plans for the growth of Sky's satellite service." Full details of the service, including branding, pricing and the complete channel lineup, will be revealed closer to launch.

Sky previously offered a number of pay-TV channels on DTT via the now defunct ITV Digital service between 1998 and 2002.

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