Tesco goes digital for a tenner

Tesco, the UK’s dominant supermarket chain, is offering a digital terrestrial receiver for just £10. The Techwood manufactured receiver is half the cost of the previous cheaper sold by the supermarket that retailed for £19.99. It is likely that the device, along with items such as daily staples such as milk, is being sold as a loss leader.

Barry Flynn, an analyst for Farncombe Technology, told Broadband TV News that the high volumes involved is likely to impact on the average price of DTT receivers. He said it was also  potentially bad news for sales of integrated digital television sets.

Margins on DTT receivers have fallen drastically in the ten years since ITV Digital launched its ill-fated service in the UK. This led to some major manufacturers pulling out of the market.

However, recent innovations such as the Freeview Playback digital video recorder have begun to encourage a return to some high end product.