After years of stuttering, ministers finally depressed the mute button: digital television will be introduced in the next semester. The much-awaited debut with two MBC channels hardly set pulses racing but the cabinet?s decision is a giant leap for the media.

While Mauritius discovers the wonders of digital television, Britain is already thinking about the great analogue switch-off. It was initially programmed for 2010 but the government is coming under increasing pressure to fix a formal date, not least from Ofcom, the communications super-regulator.

A report due this week will conclude that a switchover is ?both desirable and achievable, provided that Government is in a position to give greater certainty over the timing?. The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 have already announced plans to turn off the analogue signal in some parts of the country as early as 2007 in an attempt to persuade viewers to upgrade to digital television.

The British government?s reluctance to come out with a date is understandable. Ministers realise that turning off the analogue signal before viewers have switched to digital would be political suicide because it would leave millions of voters without TV. The official line is that ?it is a question of when and how, not whether?.

In a Department of Trade and Industry survey, half of those questioned ?disagreed? with the policy of switching off, complaining that the strategy would force those with analogue sets to incur extra costs if they wanted to continue to watch television. The public also said it did not trust the Government?s motive and doubted it was in the interests of viewers.

Once the analogue signal has been turned off, the Government plans to raise money by selling off parts of the spectrum. That could raise millions of pounds, although it is unlikely to net the billions raised by selling 3G licences to mobile phone companies.

<B>Free-to-air service</B>

All this pressure is a measure of how far digital television has come since its launch in 1998. Half of Britain?s 24.6 million homes now have access to the technology. If the UK leads the world in this field, it is mainly due to Murdoch?s Skydigital. Not only was it first on the block but it kick-started the dream by giving away free set-top boxes to convert all existing BSkyB subscribers to digital satellite. Skydigital has 7.3 million customers and aims to reach eight million by 2005.

Sky also leads on the innovation front. Its interactive service, SkyActive, includes enhanced TV applications, TV email, SMS messaging, TV Chat, games, betting, home banking and shopping.

However, its market dominance could be challenged by Freeview, the digital terrestrial television service backed by the BBC. Costing a one-off fee of Rs 3 000 (set-top box included), it is bound to overtake Sky as the UK?s favourite way of watching multichannel television in the longer run.

?There is no subscription barrier and the hardware cost will continue to tumble. We expect Freeview to be hardwired into TVs,? said Adam Smith of ZenithOptimedia.

According to industry research, the free-to-air service, which is available in three million homes, is expected to be adopted by almost ten million households in four years time, with Sky in 8.9 million UK homes and cable in just 3.5 million. The study also suggests 87% of households will have gone digital by 2008, leaving only a small minority of die-hard analogue viewers.

<B>Fighting for crumbs</B>

While the figures make fantastic viewing, the jury is still out on content. Digital television boasts over 400 channels but the fact is that the five terrestrial stations attract 59% of viewers in multichannel homes. Half of this audience is glued to the BBC?s two free-to-air channels. Sky pulls in 12% of viewers, half of which thanks to its sports stations. The rest of the channels fight for crumbs.

For example, figures from the Broadcasters? Audience Research Board show that more than 55 days? worth of programmes on the BBC?s digital channels last year were watched by so few viewers that they scored zero on the official ratings scale. Despite this, the digital TV bandwagon rolls on. New channels keep mushrooming, the buzzword being market segmentation.

?If I were running a TV company, I?d go for the skill of really understanding target audiences and creating high quality editorially led ?specialist? content for which the viewer will pay a premium,? said Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey at last week?s Media 360 conference.

Segmentation leaves an uncertain future for the generalist channels that still dominate most people?s current viewing schedules. The BBC has reacted by splashing Rs 25 billion on digital television and radio channels. It is only safeguarding its future but it is becoming increasingly hard to justify its licence fee in a multichannel environment.

Media analysts believe it is unfair for the corporation to have a guaranteed income amounting to billions of pounds while the rest (hundreds of other channels) share the advertising money. The switch to digital broadcasting will make it easier for viewers to pay for the programmes they want.

The digital TV revolution is marching on worldwide. The acquisition of a set-top box has long been an obstacle to the fast development of the technology. It should be removed in the medium run with the mass production of cheaper integrated digital television (iDTV).

An IMS Research report shows that only 1.5 million iDTVs were sold in 2003. Growth is forecast to accelerate from 17.4 million units in 2007 to reach 116 million in 2015, by which time the majority of TVs will include a digital tuner.

The mobile phone industry is already exploring a world where digital and terrestrial TV converge with telecommunications. Potential applications include broadcast-enabled mobile phones, portable devices such as laptops and web-pads as well as in-car devices and wireless TV sets.

?We see that people?s lives are increasingly mobile and that consumers want to be able to access their favourite multimedia content wherever they go -including TV-like programming,? said Mika Kavanti of Nokia Ventures.

Japan Broadcasting Corporation and five private broadcasters will start offering terrestrial digital broadcasting services for mobile phones in April 2005. The revolution is spreading across the world. Mauritius will soon follow suit. This time in 2006, Mauritians could be watching a private local station, placing bets from their armchair and watching Arsenal play Manchester United from six different angles. Long live the digital dream?

<B>by Ryan Coopamah Outlook correspondent in London

E-mail: [email protected]</B>