BBC tipped to win DTT licence

It has been reported in the Observer that the BBC is to be successful in its bid for the free-to-air DTT licence.
The paper reports that the Independent Television Commission (ITC), which holds the licences given up by ITV Digital when it was placed into administration in March, will award the free-to-air licence to the BBC/BSkyB joint bid when the decision is announced on Thursday.
ITC chief executive Patricia Hodgson is reported to be in favour the bid and will recommend it to the ITC council.
In a speech last week, BBC director general Greg Dyke said that the decision on the licence award would have to be well-considered as digital terrestrial platform had only "one more chance to survive". Mr Dyke then offered an olive branch to ITV and Channel 4 and indicated that there could be a pay-TV element to the BBC/BSkyB proposals. He said that there were four slots in the BBC proposal available for another bidder such as ITV or Channel 4 to offer their programming.
Elsewhere it was reported in the Sunday Telegraph that ITV and Channel 4 will present the ITC with research today suggesting that the majority of DTT users would countenance pay-TV programming.
ITV and Channel 4 – under the name Digital Terrestrial Alliance – will try to persuade the ITC that their Freeview Plus pay-TV proposal is a popular option with potential viewers.
The research reportedly indicates that 76% of former ITV Digital viewers are still using their set top boxes, and that 93% of those would favour subscription programming.
A member of the Freeview Plus consortium, former BSkyB boss David Chance said: "The importance of the research to us is that it underlines yet again the fact that there is a very important consumer constituency who have the boxes already and who are interested in a pay proposition."
ITC, www.itc.org.uk
(GMcG)