ITV’s former chairman says not maintaining a DTT signal beyond 2030 would be foolish.
The debate on what happens to the Freeview platform beyond the turn of the decade is live following comments by BBC director-general Tim Davie. Last December, in a speech to the Royal Television Society, Davie imagined the BBC at the heart of an internet-driven UK Media Market.
In a letter to the Financial Times, Sir Peter Bazalgette said there were reasons for keeping DTT switched on after 2030, beyond the green distribution method outlined by the paper in its Lex column.
“We’ve already seen an undersea gas pipeline blown up. International infrastructure has become a credible target. What if the internet were compromised by the destruction of the satellites and the cables it depends upon? In a time of crisis, how would a government get its crucial messages out (think Covid and lockdown)?
“There’s a powerful argument for maintaining alternative means of distribution. Chiefly, DTT for TV and FM for radio. It’s a matter of national resilience and it would be a foolish government or regulator which ignored this.”
Sir Peter, who was chair of ITV between 2015 and 2022, says while Davie was rightly preparing the corporation for the internet age, he should also be arguing for the maintenance of DTT.
