KEY POINTS:
The digital television platform Freeview is claiming a big increase in the number of tuners sold in the three months to September 1, and says the free-to-air service is in 10 per cent of homes.
Managing director Steve Browning said uptake increased 37,980 in the July-September quarter to 160,496.
He said the uptake was the fastest ever, and indicated a switch-off of analogue television signals.
The Freeview consortium of free-to-air broadcasters including TVNZ, TV3, Maori TV and Radio New Zealand launched last year and will be the main source for free-to-air television programmes after switch-off, expected to occur in 2013-2015.
Browning said the 10 per cent of homes combined with the 42 per cent of people who had subscriptions to the Sky digital service meant 52 per cent of New Zealanders had access to digital TV.
The Government has indicated it will set a date to switch off analogue signals once digital television is in 60 per cent of the market. Sky Television chief executive John Fellet said that the pay television service - which has a digital pay platform and a four-channel analogue pay service - was also keen for an analogue switch-off.
But the relationship between the established pay television operator and the newcomer platform for free-to-air television is tense. Three issues are at the centre of the ill feeling in what is being dubbed the television wars:
* Sky's ownership of Prime TV, giving it the power to make joint programming deals with free-to-air and pay rights, and delays putting Prime onto Freeview.
* Sky's plans to close down its analogue pay service and retain ownership of the analogue UHF television frequencies.
* TVNZ and TV3's calls for controls on Sky in the current review of broadcasting regulations.
Freeview says Sky's unwillingness to show Prime TV on its platform is hampering uptake, and says that is why Sky is holding back Prime.
But Fellet said that to join Freeview would cost it $2 million a year and made no sense. He said Prime would only join Freeview once the platform drew in about 5 per cent of television viewing numbers, which was some way off.
The future use of the analogue UHF television frequencies - on which Sky is offering a four-channel service but which it has stopped selling - is an issue because while analogue TV is coming to an end, analogue frequencies are still necessary to carry the digital signals for Freeview's digital terrestrial service and Freeview claims that it is running out.
Sky TV - which is planning on closing down its analogue channels in 2010 - recently extended its lease on the frequencies from 2010 to 2020, likely to be well past the date of an analogue switch-off. It says it intends using the channels for broadcasting to mobile phones. Browning said that approach indicated Sky was seeking to prevent expansion.
Meanwhile, Freeview and its free-to-air broadcasters are at loggerheads with Sky over the Government review of regulations for broadcasting. Freeview is demanding regulations, claiming that Sky has grown so big it is dominating the TV industry and threatens to shut it out of programming deals. The review, which will be completed next August, is likely to be the centre of a major lobbying war between Sky and the free channels.
Sky, which already has rights to the Vancouver and London Olympics, is avoiding allegations that it is using its buying muscle by making a joint bid for the Rugby World Cup.
