A DTT and Virgin Media blog
Not strictly DTT news, but I thought this was worth a post. The BBC are going to be publicly launching the iPlayer on the 27th July (although it will be in BETA). It will allow viewers to download TV shows from the main BBC channels (which will expire after a set time) - similiar to Channel 4’s service, 4oD. See the video below for what’s to look forward to. 
Video from BBC News.
Sky are planning to launch a premium service on DTT by the Summer. This will mean all of their channels on Freeview will be taken off - Sky Three, Sky News and Sky Sports News - and these are rumoured to be replaced by Sky Sports 1, Sky Movies 1, Sky One and Sky News (premium - not free). The new Sky service will utilise MPEG4 technology to launch these new channels - which will allow them to have four 24-hour video streams instead of the three channels on Freeview at the moment. A new Sky set top box will be needed to get these channels on Freeview, and it is thought there will be a monthly subscription to view them. The new Sky DTT set top box will decode the MPEG-4 video streams and it is thought a smart card will be needed in order to activate and use the service - similar to how Top Up TV and Sky’s satellite service works. To clarify, from the Summer, Sky News, Sky Three and Sky Sports News will no longer be available on Freeview and all Sky channels on DTT will be subscription-only premium channels. More news as we get it.
Ofcom has published a report, which reveals that three out of four households now watch digital television. It says 9.3 million houses in the UK have DTT on at least one TV. Sales for boxes have skyrocketed and continue to do so. This is now even more the case as people are snapping up set top boxes for Christmas. The report also details increases in Cable and Satellite subscriptions.
The report is available at http://ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/12/nr_20061220
