The joint bid by the Free to View Ltd consortium of the BBC and Crown Castle aims at providing a "robust" selection of free-to-view channels to attract audiences who aren't interested in digital pay-TV as offered by digital satellite and cable television.

The consortium says that on the basis of a "sustainable" business model, it plans to build a viable platform to drive digital take-up; which is in the interests of the BBC which runs dedicated digital channels. In addition, BSkyB would supply channels to one of the multiplexes, which could serve as a "taster" proposition to its pay-TV service on digital satellite.

There would be a number of technical changes to the DTT signal in order to improve reception. ITV Digital, which previously operated the multiplexes, suffered from complaints from consumers that the signal was too weak to be received properly. The changes would be:

  • a change to the transmission mode to 16QAM 3/4, eliminating impulsive interference for most DTT viewers
  • trial a 'power doubling' 3dB increase across all 80 transmitters
  • consider appropriate coverage equalisation packages
The bidder does note however, that once analogue switchoff has occurred, power to the DTT signal could be turned up and the service could revert to the 64QAM mode. The difference with 16QAM is that although the signal is more robust, less services could be offered; and the BBC says that for this reason only an FTV service is appropriate.

The consortium's plans would see the DTT service laid out thus:

Mux 1
BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Choice/CBeebies, BBC News 24, BBCi

Mux 2
ITV1, ITV2, Channel 4, C4 spare, Teletext

Mux A
Channel 5, QVC/S4C, TV Travelshop, S4C2/tbc, ITN

Mux B
BBC Parliament, BBC Four/CBBC, BBCi Interactive, 6 BBC Radio services

Mux C
Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Travel, UK History, Commerical Radio (tbc)

Mux D
CNN/Boomerang/TCM, entertainment (tbc), music (tbc), interactive service (tbc), Commercial Radio (tbc)

Multiplex D is the one in which BBC/Crown Castle is looking for ITV to play a role in content provision, naming an "ITV Gold" channel as a possible contender. It also contains three channels from AOL Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting - although it appears from the layout that these stations would share one frequency, most likely CNN at breakfast time, Boomerang through the day and TCM in the evening. Multiplex C contains a new channel from BBC Worldwide/Flextech joint venture, UK History, which would likely make significant use of the BBC's historical documentary archives.

Marketing for the new service would be done in one package by the BBC, Crown Castle and BSkyB, including a massive on-air campaign on BBC network television. Initially, 15 million analogue viewers would be targeted; followed by 10 million digital homes where DTT could be marketed as a way of upgrading secondary and tertiary television sets.

Customer services would be provided by a company known as "ServiceCo", incorporated by the BBC, Crown Castle and BSkyB, although this would be for technical advice rather than acting as a 'gateway' to the platform.