S
Satman
Guest
The latest figures from ITV Digital are mixed to say the least. ITV Digital today claim that they signed up 46,000 homes in the last 3 months of last year (against 82,000 in the previous period - July to September). As at the 31st of December ITV Digital therefore had 1,260,000 homes in the UK which puts them on target to reach their forecast 1.7 million subscribers by September 2004.
But the problem is ITV Digital’s churn rate. This has grown rather than shrunk – it is now running at 24.9% against 23.1% for the previous quarter. In other words 1 in 4 ITV Digital subscribers are cancelling their subscriptions to the package. And that means that approximately 300,000 homes have tried and rejected ITV Digital in just the past 12 months!
The saving grace for ITV Digital is that the Government seems to be supporting their presence in the market – frightened by the possibility that, if ITV Digital collapses, then Mr Murdoch will be left to run British TV. And, in the background, the analog switch off date (2006 or 2010) is looming which will force British TV viewers to move to digital - Sky, ITV Digital, cable or the new BBC/ITV FTA package. And it is this last package which favours ITV Digital!
But the problem is ITV Digital’s churn rate. This has grown rather than shrunk – it is now running at 24.9% against 23.1% for the previous quarter. In other words 1 in 4 ITV Digital subscribers are cancelling their subscriptions to the package. And that means that approximately 300,000 homes have tried and rejected ITV Digital in just the past 12 months!
The saving grace for ITV Digital is that the Government seems to be supporting their presence in the market – frightened by the possibility that, if ITV Digital collapses, then Mr Murdoch will be left to run British TV. And, in the background, the analog switch off date (2006 or 2010) is looming which will force British TV viewers to move to digital - Sky, ITV Digital, cable or the new BBC/ITV FTA package. And it is this last package which favours ITV Digital!