The government in the United Kingdom is considering the future of television distribution, which could affect the prospects of the digital terrestrial platform that is marketed at Freeview. Strangely, the organisation responsible for Freeview, and the public service broadcasters that fund it, wants to switch if off by 2034. Naturally, the organisation responsible for providing the transmission network suggests that this could be premature.

A report suggests that switching off Freeview as early as 2034 would be an unprecedented gamble with a service on which millions depend, with costs and risks of a different order to magnitude to digital switchover.

Arqiva, the transmission network operator, has shared a plan with government, recently reported by informitv, which would maintain universal access to public service broadcasting, reduce costs to broadcasters, release spectrum for other use, preserve national infrastructure resilience, and avoid potentially damaging impacts on radio broadcasting and other uses of shared tower infrastructure.

“This is not broadcast versus broadband,” says Shuja Khan, the chief executive of Arqiva. “It’s about ensuring both can coexist while the market transitions.”

He also notes that it is about resilience. The broadcast network is a sovereign, physically distributed infrastructure reaching over 98.5% of households that delivers not only television but also underpins radio and emergency services.

“Our proposal is not about preserving the status quo, it is about managing change responsibly, reflecting how people consume content today, while enabling where the market is going,” he says. “At Arqiva, we are clear that we have a stake in this outcome. But our proposal is grounded in the evidence: on audience behaviour, infrastructure, and long-term sustainability. This decision doesn’t require extremes. It requires judgement.

Everyone TV, the organisation that has developed Freely as a successor to Freeview, would like to see a switch-off date set to encourage adoption.

By the end of 2025, Freely was estimated to be in around 800,000 homes, and most of them were reported as also using terrestrial, satellite or cable television. The three largest brands have yet to support Freely, restricting it to around half of new television sales.

In contrast, open standards like DVB-I can support hybrid services and a long-term transition to online delivery in a way that can be supported by all manufacturers.

Proponents of switching off Freeview cite the precedent of the previous transition from analogue to digital television from 2008 to 2012.

They argue that switching off digital terrestrial television could save broadcasters about £100 million a year in transmission costs, conveniently assuming that online delivery does not involve costs.

Christy Swords is a consultant who has advised Arqiva. He was previously director of regulatory affairs at ITV and led their policy on the digital switchover process, serving on the board of Digital UK, the forerunner of Everyone TV.

He has published a report that suggests the comparison between transitioning to digital and switching off the digital terrestrial television network is misleading.

The report concludes that despite substantial changes in viewing habits and the television market in the United Kingdom, millions of homes are yet to switch to online television and there is very little incentive for them to do so, with many millions of homes likely to rely on digital terrestrial television through 2034 and beyond.

The alternative, advocating for a modernisation of the digital terrestrial television network, is that it can continue to deliver the current channel line-up, free spectrum for other purposes, delivering a windfall to the government, rather than an ongoing cost of subsidising broadband for vulnerable viewers.

Extending the life of digital terrestrial television, the author argues, will leave the country in a better position to deliver a full switch-off when the time is right.

Conversely, switching off Freeview as early as 2034 would be “a reckless and unnecessary policy gamble, putting at risk the universal and free television services enjoyed by every home in the country for decades”.

A False Comparison, Digital Switchover and Freeview Switch-off is published by Swords Consulting

arqiva.com

Sky has added low latency online versions of all channels showing live World Cup football games in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is intended to avoid the problem of delays associated with watching online compared to satellite.

To view the low latency or “Real Time” channels, users on Sky Glass or a Sky Stream device will need to select one of the new low latency channels.

Sky has previously provided low latency LL-HLS delivery on its own Sky Sports Main Event channel.

Although Sky does not have the rights to the World Cup, it is applying the Real Time approach to third-party channels carried on its platform.

In all, it will involve 25 additional streams to support different regional variations of the channels, available separately from channels 926 to 947.

There will be regional versions of BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1/STV/UTV, and ITV4, with RTÉ2 in Northern Ireland.

It is intended to reduce the effect of spoilers from social media notifications, messaging apps, and nearby viewers, before they appear on screen for online viewers.

Viewers report that there is still a delay of around five seconds with respect to broadcast channels.

Sky says it requires an internet connection of at least 40 megabits per second. It will not support some time-shift functions, including live rewind.

It also currently requires users to select a special channel to get the benefit, assuming they are aware of it. They will receive an on-screen prompt during supported events.

www.sky.com

Bending Spoons, the Italian company that acquired Brightcove and Vimeo, among other online companies including the venerable AOL, is preparing for a public offering on the Nasdaq market in the United States under the symbol BSP.

The company has disclosed some details of its finances in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The timing of the offering, number of shares to be offered, and the price range have yet to be determined.

It said it had over 500 million monthly active users and more than 9 million paying customers. Revenue grew from $387 million in 2023 to $1.31 billion in 2025, the filing says.

It will provide a public test of the buy and rebuild strategy that has been based on buying mature digital companies, stripping out costs and optimising them for profitability, then reinvesting in additional acquisitions.

The company uses a central hub of engineers using artificial intelligence to re-write acquired codebases. It says it strives to envision the most successful version of an acquired business, and works to close the gap between its current state and that vision as quickly and completely as possible.

The four founders will retain super voting shares. The planned placement will offer a 20% equity stake in the company to public investors, allowing some early backers to execute a lucrative exit.

www.bendingspoons.com