Take-up Encouraging for U.K.’s Free Over-Air HDTV, Freeview Says

LONDON -- Free, over-air HDTV service begins in the U.K. Tuesday, with half the country to be covered by June when World Cup telecasts begin in HD. In an exclusive interview, Freeview Managing Director Ilse Howling told us she’s “very encouraged” by market research that shows “striking interest in Freeview HD across the board” and points to 18 percent of the 18 million Freeview SDTV homes “likely” switching to HD on their main TV within six months.

Current plans for Freeview HD include 60 percent national coverage by this year-end, then 90 percent for the 2012 London Olympics and near 100 percent by the end of 2012, when the last analog transmitters in the U.K. shut down. “Many homes that are still analogue may go direct to HD. It’s the logical step,” Howling told us. She noted that April 2007 saw equal sales of SD Freeview boxes and DTV with integrated Freeview tuners for the first time.

Howling based her optimism on consumer surveys by YouGov, the U.K. government’s market research group. In January, the group asked 2,063 adults “How likely or unlikely do you think you are to get Freeview HD on your main television set in the next six months.” Participants were told the new service would be free, but they would need a Freeview HD box costing about 130 pounds ($195) to receive the broadcasts. Freeview was at that time promising HD channels from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 “in late 2010,” but Channel 5 has since dropped out. Of those polled, 17 percent with analog TV reception, 17 percent with over-air SD Freeview, 23 percent with a Freeview+ PVR and 17 percent with satellite-based with Sky HD said they were “likely to get” Freeview HD. “These are not sales predictions, they are from a snapshot of interest,” Howling said. Howling acknowledged that the Sky viewers polled were not reminded that they could receive free HD channels from satellite, by buying a Freesat free-to-air satellite receiver and using it with a Sky dish. “We didn’t look at it,” said Howling, who heads a team of 20 at Freeview and was head of digital marketing at the BBC before joining Freeview in late 2005.

The estimates on inroads into Sky’s subscriber base are contentious because Freeview is jointly run by free over-air broadcasters the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4, commercial transmitter network operator Arqiva, and BSkyB, owner of Sky. The five companies share control equally and roughly share the basic Freeview annual budget of £6.5 million. BSkyB is “supportive” on the HD launch, Howling said, but she confirmed that BSkyB will not be making the extra contributions needed to cover what she describes as “the single biggest advertising campaign of the next 12 months” with 12 million pounds spent on predominantly TV ads for Freeview HD, half of which will be spent between now and the end of the World Cup in July.

Sky already is countering the Freeview HD initiative. Retailer Currys Digital stores are offering a “free Sky+ HD box” and displaying TVs with a split-screen comparison loop, with one half showing pictures in Freeview SD quality, and the other half in Sky HD.

The U.K.’s fifth public service broadcaster, Channel Five, was planning to use one of Freeview’s four HD channels, along with the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. But, a week ago, it handed back its HD channel allocation to the BBC and signed to broadcast HD from Sky instead. “It’s a shame,” Howling said. “It would have been nice. But Five is still on Freeview in SD and the BBC is now looking for the best way to use the freed HD channel. I don’t expect there to be a gap for very long."

Howling defended Freeview’s failure to promote the new Freeview HD logo sooner, even though Freeview publicized its HD launch plans last December. Since then, consumers have risked the mistaken purchase of a TV with Freeview logo and HD logo, which will not be able to receive Freeview HD without an extra set top box. Freeview’s website now clearly explains that “HD Ready is not the same as Freeview HD” -- but only to people who take the initiative to look for the information.

"New point of sale literature for Freeview HD is just going into stores. The launch Tuesday is the trigger moment,” Howling told us. The new literature warns “if you have an HD-Ready TV but a standard Freeview box, you won’t be able to access HD services."

The official launch also will trigger publicity for a “post code checker” that will let viewers enter their postal code in an online database, and get instant advice ahead of purchase on whether they'll get a good HD signal. Howling said she was aware of the risk, warned of by the BBC, that Freeview HD can get a bad name because four of the launch Freeview HD transmitters, including London’s, have half or less than half the power of the companion Freeview SD transmitters. So, viewers in fringe areas may see digital breakup on HD channels but not SD channels (CED Dec 28 p1).

"We know some people on the edge or with poor aerials won’t get as good HD reception as SD, so we want the checker to be as reliable as possible,” Howling said. “We are playing safe, and would rather have some false negatives, than false positives. It is better to wrongly warn people that they won’t get HD, than have them find out they can’t.”