The success of Freeview has ignited demand from channel operators to jump on board. The lure of Freeview is exemplified by this week's decision of Channel 4 to broadcast E4 free-to-air. The enticement is the advertising promise of such a large potential audience. But, how big an advertising opportunity is it really?

Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) launched in France on 31st March. We expect significant enthusiasm for the wider channel choice available to the 15 million French homes (62%) served only by analogue terrestrial feeds and the roughly 40% of homes that cannot receive a satellite feed. 14 channels were launched on a free-to-air (FTA) basis, and low prices of entry-level STBs have led to brisk sales.

Analogue switch-off is of huge significance to audience share and thus advertising revenue of the existing terrestrial broadcasters (see Analogue Switch-Off [2004-26]). When switch-off occurs, ITV’s audience share will fall, thus affecting revenue from advertising, but its financial impact will be balanced to some extent by an end to ITV’s analogue licence fee payments (see ITV Licence Fees [2004-29]). Where do matters currently stand?

Our first report of 2005 deals with prospects for music download services to the PC and the mobile handset.