Freeview has today outlined its blueprint to take on BSkyB with next generation digital TV services, pledging to roll out high definition to more than 60% of UK households by Christmas next year.
Ilse Howling, managing director of Freeview, the free-to-air digital terrestrial TV offering, said that for the business to cement its position in UK households it requires a clear "reach out and reach up" strategy focused on delivering HDTV, on-demand and enhanced personal video recorder services.
Howling, speaking at the Intellect Consumer Electronics Conference, said the plan is to deliver Freeview HD to 50% of the UK population in time for the football World Cup in South Africa next summer and more than 60% by the critical 2010 Christmas sales period.
Freeview, which will launch its first HD services in the coming months, is looking to play catch-up with the huge success BSkyB has had with the technology.
BSkyB, which has more than 30 HD channels, has signed up more than 1m households to its HD TV service and has had huge success pushing the technology combined with its Sky+ PVR. BSkyB has more than 5 million customers using Sky+, while Freeview has about 1.5m with its Freeview+ PVR set-top boxes.
"Let us work to make Freeview+ the entry point to digital TV, the standard product," Howling said. "Our ambition should be to switch the remaining three million analogue homes not just to Freeview but to Freeview+."
She added that Freeview – which with its cheap set-top boxes and no need to have a satellite dish or cable connection installed has enjoyed great success as the entry-level option for uncommitted analogue households – needed to change the perception of its brand to keep pace with the developing market.
By the end of March, 9.8 million UK homes were getting digital TV on their main sets via Freeview, according to the latest Ofcom figures published on Monday.
"Freeview is a brand that has to stretch. If you think we are just for those coming late to the digital party, or the bargain basement choice, piled high and sold cheap, think again," Howling said.
"Our strategy is to reach out and reach up. Reach out to the mass market and reach up to the technophiles. We have to be Tesco Finest and Tesco Basics."
Freeview has a modest marketing budget of just £12m per year, she added.
The DTT service is hoping that the on-demand content will arrive with Project Canvas, the joint venture between the BBC, ITV and BT to "bring catchup from the PC to the TV", although the initiative is still being evaluated by the BBC Trust and has faced stiff criticism from BSkyB and other competitors.
Last year Ofcom unveiled the blueprint for the roll-out of HD channels on Freeview. A staged roll-out will see HD channels made available from ITV, the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel Five from later this year through to digital switchover in 2012.
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