I dont think it was Tech question since it did have some of the new idents, Eclipse and Olympics etc If I remember correctly, half the english ones were never used nor half the walsh, But alot of the Irish was used .
Not sure that the fact that they used occasonal specials is evidence that they had access to the full set the rest of the time. If necessary the specials could have been played via some other method that would not be worth the effort for routine use.
Here's an interesting piece of footage, Sky News Active covering the collapse of ITV Digital in 2002 followed by MHEG text screens from the ITV Digital customer information channel, attempting to reassure viewers that everything is fine. 'In the unlikely event that we do stop broadcasting…'
And here's a channel hop from the night it closed down. A quick flick through the channels before settling on a report on the closure from News 24. Those straps were ugly weren't they, is that Gill Sans Ultra Bold? Anyway, easy to forget just how much people thought digital switchover would be set back by ITV Digital closing, with David Elstein suggesting it shouldn't happen for another twenty years.
And here's a channel hop from the night it closed down. A quick flick through the channels before settling on a report on the closure from News 24. Those straps were ugly weren't they, is that Gill Sans Ultra Bold? Anyway, easy to forget just how much people thought digital switchover would be set back by ITV Digital closing, with David Elstein suggesting it shouldn't happen for another twenty years.
It got accelerated instead, because ITV Digital's demise allowed Freeview to take it's place. I guess Elstein expected a replacement subscription service to appear instead?
I don't know if this has been available online previously, but I hadn't seen it before. BBC One Scotland's balloon era closedown from 1997.
Or, a number of junctions from the first day of the balloon, including the closedown. Curiously, at closedown, the announcer is on the clock and then pops back to a couple of weather slides before returning to the clock. I thought that was rather odd. Was that normal practice at the time?
Don’t think this happened elsewhere. On the weekday Reporting Scotland titles, did they still use “BBC Scotland” over a saltire at the very start of the titles? Haven’t seen a version where his had been updated for the new logo.
Also - what did the Welsh balloon anthem look like? Did they still use both anthems?
Don’t think this happened elsewhere. On the weekday Reporting Scotland titles, did they still use “BBC Scotland” over a saltire at the very start of the titles? Haven’t seen a version where his had been updated for the new logo.
This one? Im lead to believe this come in the following Monday and lasted until 1999.
And here's a channel hop from the night it closed down. A quick flick through the channels before settling on a report on the closure from News 24. Those straps were ugly weren't they, is that Gill Sans Ultra Bold? Anyway, easy to forget just how much people thought digital switchover would be set back by ITV Digital closing, with David Elstein suggesting it shouldn't happen for another twenty years.
It got accelerated instead, because ITV Digital's demise allowed Freeview to take it's place. I guess Elstein expected a replacement subscription service to appear instead?
Yep. To be fair, all of the rumours at the time seemed to point to a future subscription service - Sky was rumoured to be starting a DTT alternative to their successful digital satellite service, but they decided to join up with the BBC and Crown Castle to create Freeview.
Elstein was proved wrong within a few years - most Freeview boxes were cheap as chips (some were as low as £20), and the takeup of those using Freeview became so quick, that DSO proved to be possible for a 2008 - 2012 timeframe.
To be fair to Elstein, he may also have been worried about the damage to people's perception of digital TV as a whole that the ITV Digital collapse could bring about.
Remember also that later in 2002 there was the threat of customers having to pay for or return their boxes - and a lot of people may have decided they were satisifed with the five channels on analogue and just returned to that instead of getting a dish installed or installing cable.
Between them Carlton and Granada paid up £2.8m for the million or so set top boxes and promptly gave them to the people with whom they had resided.
On the outset it may look like a nice gesture to make for not very much money, but goodwill hasn’t played that big a part in the ITV Digital saga and it wasn’t about to start now.
Both Carlton and Granada had good reasons for stumping up the cash and both involve the former subscribers.
After the closure of ITV Digital, over a million people were suddenly left without pay-TV. It’s estimated that at least 300,000 of those moved over to satellite or cable, although there are no exact figures.
However that left at least half a million people who didn’t bother and just stuck with the free-to-air channels that remained. However, with the launch of Freeview, many people may have taken the opportunity to assess what they watch and decide whether it would be worth the outlay for a new DTT adapter. Those that didn’t would have gone straight back to analogue.
In recent times ITV2 has made a bit of a mark for itself, building itself up to be the 6th biggest channel on DTT, behind the main five channels.
The potential decrease of tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of viewers could have dented its ratings and, more importantly, the amount of revenue it would have been able to raise by advertising and sponsorship.
Whether this risk was enough to warrant the spending of nearly £3m pounds, who knows? However, that was not the only concern.
Each ITV company pays a set amount to the Treasury each year for its license to broadcast. In recent years the government has offered the companies a reduction in these fees, depending on how many homes went digital. The so-called “digital dividend” saved Carlton and Granada £84m between them in the year to September 2002.
Any reduction in the number of digital homes would have seen the digital dividend decrease. At the time of its closure, ITV Digital accounted for around 14% of all digital homes, contributing around £11.8m to the digital dividend.
The reduction would have depended on how many homes gave up on digital. If around 250,000 households went back to analogue, it would cost the two companies £2.9m a year.
Obviously, no one knows how many people would have turned their backs on digital, but the chance to pay a few million (a small amount to both companies) to safeguard future rebates for a few years was obviously an attractive option.
And so Carlton and Granada can protect their balance sheets and former subscribers get to keep on watching digital television.