The chief executive of UKTV says he expects the number of channels available to UK viewers“will start to decrease soon”.
In a Financial Times interview, Darren Childs said there was neither growth in advertising or carriage fees.
“Free-to-air spectrum is very expensive, and the [pay-TV] platforms are having to make big choices about where they’re investing,” he said. “We’ve got the benefit of scale. Some of the smaller niche players are going to struggle.”
He said the economics of the business were really tough, pointing to the current difficulties of London Live, the newly launched local channel for the capital.
UKTV currently holds a market share of 9%, making it the independent channel provider. It is jointly owned by BBC Worldwide and Scripps.
