Freesat will 'struggle'

Freesat will "struggle" to take off when it launches this spring because BSkyB has already made the satellite business its own, according to Top Up TV chief executive officer Nick Markham.

Speaking at the Broadcast Building Audience Loyalty conference yesterday (14 February), Markham said the BBC and ITV joint venture would find it hard to gain traction because Sky had already "sewn up satellite".

He said: "Sky has spent years perfecting its service and made sure that every home with satellite TV had it through Sky devices. There is no way it will just sit back and allow a new competitor to just come along and take a slice of the market. If [Freesat] does that, Sky will just undercut it on price."

He added it was important to remember that Sky had "earned its monopoly" in satellite, adding: "Nobody just it handed it over."

Top Up TV, BT, Setanta and Virgin Media filed a joint submission to Ofcom last year as part of the regulator's UK pay-TV market. The quartet accused BSkyB of running a "vicious circle" of control that crushes competition in the UK pay-TV market.

Ofcom is expected to annoounce its findings early this year.

Source: Broadcast Now