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Could a joint venture of Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc beat Sky in the battle for digital viewers? Sadly, "no" was the case.

DTT - the choice for Britain
In the mid-1990s the British government came to the conclusion that more choice needed to be introduced in television services. They decided that the space which the TV service uses could be better put to use with digital mobile phone services. Both problems could be solved by introducing digital terrestrial tv. Accordingly the 1996 Broadcasting Act was passed, introducing Digital Terrestrial Television, empowering the ITC to create six multiplexes, licence the existing operaters ITV and C4 to Mux 2 (Mux 1 being given to the BBC), Channel 5 and S4C to Mux A, and licence a new pay-tv multiplex operater to Mux B, C, and D.

First BDB
Carlton and Granada, the large ITV companies, came together with BSkyB to create British Digital Broadcasting PLC, to bid for the pay-tv multiplex operator. BDB's bid for the franchise was accepted by the ITC, but when Sky unvieled its plans for digital satellite television the ITC were not impressed. They ordered Sky to withdraw from the company. Sky continued to supply programming for the company however. On 19th September 1997. the ITC and BDB agreed the terms of the licence.

Then ONdigital
BDB spent a year putting plans into place for the service. Ominously for BDB, their new headquaters was to be British Satellite Broadcasting (deceased)'s MarcoPolo House. BDB spent 11 months putting a transmitter network in place in co-operation with NTL. However the company remained with the problem that, since Sky's departure, the name BDB could sound to much like BSkyB, never mind the afforementioned BSB (as if having their HQ wasn't enough of a jinx). On 28th July 1998, therefore, BDB announced that it was adopting the trading name ONdigital (the company name was since been re-registered as Ondigital plc). On 28th September the service was given its offical press launch, with service commencing on 15 November 1998.

Yet Another New Name
In April 2001 Carlton and Granada announced that they were to integrate ONdigital and the ITV Network Centre in a new organisation. Ondigital plc would be renamed ITV Digital plc and would become a subsidary of a new ITV central organisation comprising of ITV Channels, ITV Digital, and Itv.com. The new ITV central organisation began naming its mangement in the first week of July 2001, the name change took affect on 11th July 2001, and ITV Digital was now trading under its new name. In Summer 2000, ITV Digital secured a three year deal to televise Football League soccer, thus giving itself a piece of the football pie.

Collapse
However that deal was to secure ITV Digital's downfall. In March 2002, ITV Digital informed the Football League that it could no longer afford to pay the remaining cost of the £315m deal. Talks between the League and the company failed to agree a solution, and so on 28th March 2002, Carlton and Granada asked for a High Court administrator to be appointed to ITV Digital plc. After four weeks, no solution could be found, and on 1st May 2002 at 7am ITV Digital ceased operations. The hope is now that a replacement provider can be found, and learn from the mistakes of this example of how to not run a pay-TV business...