Everyone knows that digital television is bound to be the trend of the future.
But the question is, can the initial investment in terrestrial digital television bring sufficient returns?
In other words, the three current digital TV technologies, cable digital TV, satellite digital TV and terrestrial digital TV, are limited in their development due to the terrain of Britain. So can terrestrial digital TV really be started with early investment and persist until it succeeds?
Even if terrestrial digital TV can eventually succeed, if it is 20 or even 30 years later and your funds cannot support it by then, and it dies on the beach early, what is the point?
ITV has tried this route before with digital terrestrial television - the result was that ITV Digital eventually went bankrupt and was sold.
Faced with strong competition from BSkyB in the field of satellite digital television, ITV once planned to abandon the development of terrestrial digital television and continue their satellite digital television plan.
But now it seems that Digital UK, the "successor" to ITV Digital, actually seems to be able to succeed?
At least at this time, the growth in the number of users of the Freeview platform, a collaboration between the BBC and SEM Group, is very gratifying.
Therefore, at this time, ITV had the idea of investing in Digital UK.
After all, they can also see that the number of users is the most fundamental. Although Digital UK is not profitable yet, as long as the user base is sufficient, whether it is charging channel fees for the TV channels on the platform or sharing the profits after the possible opening of pay channels, as long as there are enough TV stations on the Freeview platform, then huge profits are inevitable.
At this time, ITV's top executives couldn't help but curse the former ITV Digital management in their hearts, saying they were all good-for-nothings. Why did ITV Digital, which they ran, go bankrupt, but become a huge success after being acquired by the BBC and SEM Group and becoming Digital UK?
In fact, the failure of ITV Digital was due to a combination of reasons, the most important of which was its rigid management style.
Firstly, at the time, users who wanted to use ITV Digital's services had to purchase a set-top box, which was not cheap at the time, costing more than 200 pounds. Most importantly, ITV Digital's technology still had some flaws, and users would often experience program freezes or simply not receive a signal after using the set-top box.
In this regard, ITV Digital's response is very slow, and it is often unable to help users solve the problem for ten days or half a month, which has caused many users to give up ITV Digital's services.
Digital UK has learned a lesson in this regard. They first upgraded their technology to reduce the occurrence of many failures. And because the set-top boxes are distributed "for free", users only need to pay a deposit. Therefore, as long as there is a problem with the set-top box, there is no need to wait for repairs and a new one can be replaced immediately. This kind of service also makes users rarely dissatisfied.
Of course, the most important thing is that Digital UK decisively cooperated with Chinese manufacturers and even eventually acquired those suppliers to become its subsidiary Puma Electronics (Huaxia), which ensured the production of their set-top boxes. In just over half a year, the number of Freeview platform users reached 3 million, which was a very good start.
Although Digital UK gave ITV a one-year free broadcast experience in order to increase the number of channels on the Freeview platform, once the deadline expires, it will have to pay the channel fee.
Not only ITV, but other TV stations, even BBC and SDTV, will need to pay certain fees to Digital UK after one year. These are the sources of profit for this company.
If it is other smaller TV stations, wouldn't they just pay the channel fee to get more viewers? Anyway, the more viewers they have, the more guaranteed their benefits will be, so they should pay the fee.
But for a large broadcaster like ITV, they must be involved in the future digital TV platform. As for developing it themselves? Thinking of the lessons learned from ITV Digital, they finally decided that it would be safer to invest in Digital UK.
Therefore, after continuous negotiations, as the number of Freeview platform users increased more rapidly, ITV finally agreed to Digital UK's valuation of 1 billion pounds. They used their own resources plus an investment of 150 million pounds to obtain a 15% stake in Digital UK.
After ITV joined, Digital UK, the owner of the terrestrial digital TV platform Freeview, had its shareholding ratio changed to SEM Group holding 51%, BBC holding 34%, and ITV holding 15%.
SEM Group still holds more than half of the shares in Digital UK and has the greatest decision-making power in the company.
The funds invested by ITV in Digital UK will continue to be used for signal coverage of the Freeview platform, building signal networks in more places in the UK, and further promoting its technological updates.
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"We have invited bands and singers from EMI and many other labels to participate in this music festival. Even Radiohead will perform on stage..."
Summer is coming, and as Barron promised when the Rutland family's Belvoir Castle was added to the Grace Tourism Group's list of tourist destinations, they will soon hold the first "Belvoir Music Festival" at Belvoir Castle.
Just as Yulia said, they have invited many bands and singers to this music festival, including the very popular Radiohead. I am afraid that their participation alone will be able to attract countless music fans to Belvoir Castle to participate in this music festival.
"The layout here is nice. I heard that during the filming of the previous show, the contestants all stayed in this hotel, right?"
Although he was talking to Yulia about the Belvoir Castle Music Festival, the two of them were now in the Kalan Castle, where the filming of the second season of the reality show "The Traitors" had just finished.
The Devonshire Callan Castle Hotel here has already started business.
"Yes, but those contestants are staying in ordinary guest rooms. This Duke Suite is not open to them."
There are two suites with the best views in the entire Kalan Castle. Through their viewing balconies, you can not only overlook the Kalan City from a distance, but also in the other direction, located above the cliff, you can enjoy the spectacular natural scenery from a high vantage point.
One of these two rooms is the master bedroom prepared for Burren, the owner of the castle; the other is the Duke's Suite at the Devonshire Callan Castle Hotel.
This is also the first time that Barron stood in this position and saw the scenery outside.
"No, Your Highness..."
As Yulia said this, Barron was hugging the woman from behind, feeling her soft waist, then lowered his head and kissed her lips.