Ofcom to consult on BSkyB's proposed digital terrestrial television services

Ofcom announced on Tuesday that it will conduct a public consultation on proposals from BSkyB (Sky) and National Grid Wireless Ltd (NGW) to replace Sky's free channels with pay TV services on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform.

Following Sky's indicative announcement of these plans on 8 February 2007, Ofcom has been supplied with further detail by the two companies and now has sufficient information to review the proposals.

Sky is seeking to replace its three existing free-to-air channels with three pay television channels on DTT. However, Sky is not proposing to use MPEG4 compression technology at this stage, as originally stated in its previous announcement.

The applications raise a number of important issues, including a consideration of how Ofcom can best ensure fair and effective competition for the benefit of consumers.

Ofcom expects to issue a consultation document in the autumn, provided there are no further delays in the conclusion of outstanding technical and commercial issues between the applicants. Ofcom's normal consultation period is ten weeks. This will be followed by a Statement, which Ofcom would hope to publish early next year.

In the meantime, NGW is obliged to ensure that Sky's free-to-air channels remain on the DTT platform pending the outcome of Ofcom's review.