Britain put ITV Digital's television licence up for sale yesterday as the failed broadcaster switched off pay-to-view programmes to its one million customers and took the final steps towards liquidation.
The Independent Television Commission is inviting applications for the licence, which has been split into three, with the publicly-funded BBC seen as a strong contender.
ITV Digital's administrators pulled the plug on services including BSkyB sports and movies and music channel MTV yesterday morning. Only free channels, including the BBC, stayed on air. A screen message apologised to viewers.
The world's first digital terrestrial TV operation abandoned its fight for survival on Tuesday because it could not find the money to pay its bills or a buyer for the business. Around 1,500 staff will lose their jobs.
The firm's demise is a blow to Britain's ambition of becoming the first fully digital TV nation by 2010 and could drag down dozens of small football clubs, owed millions of pounds for broadcast rights. Some lower division clubs began to lay off players and reduce wage bills yesterday.
ITV Digital is Europe's latest and largest failed attempt to make digital TV the standard for signals received through rooftop antennas. Sweden began a service in 1999, but it has only 100,000 subscribers. Spain's Quiero followed ITV Digital into the market, then closed its doors last week. France, Italy and Ireland have all been considering digital terrestrial TV.
