As a knock on from the footy contract issue, there are apparently rumours in the City that ITV Digital is going into administration - a statement is expected later today.

There are further rumours that Sky may be in discussions to take them over.

All very interesting.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Answers

Yes..."to go into administration" now being reported by the BBC.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Serves the greedy stuffers right. "We show more football than Sky!" Can we have our game back now, please?

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

.... they are apprently citing their inability to meet the financial requirements of their contract with the Nationwide at THE reason for going into adminstration. Un-bloody-believable.

And here's me believing the Toon management were incompetent!

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

I'd never thought of the Nationwide league as being the embodiment of Marcelino before :-)

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

BBC report there is still a chance of a last minute deal before the High Court hearing due to take place this afternoon...talks are still going on.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Theyve Gone......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1896000/ 1896732.stm

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

...meanwhile (Guardian website)...

Cable group NTL has admitted it will go bust unless it receives a last-minute cash injection from new investors.

The company, which has almost 3m UK subscribers, said today it doesn't have enough money to keep the business running while it undertakes a massive £12bn restructuring operation.

It said it does not expect to complete the restructuring until June at the earliest, by which time it may have run out of cash.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Following on from the exposure of ITV Digital's gross corporate malfeasance, comes word that AOL Time Warner Chairman, Stephen Case, pocketed $127 million last year by exercising stock options! Apparently not content with this he was also granted an additional 4 million options for the year! During this same period AOL's share price has fallen by more than 50%.

I'm generally a believer in market forces, but these amazing stories indicate just what can go wrong without appropriate controls over executive management.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Meantime, aohell have laid off a number of workers and their service has been getting steadily more cr@p. :-|

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

Does that mean I don't have to bother my arse sending the digi box back after cancelling the subscription last month?

perhaps my cancelling took them over the edge!

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

I only know two people who have an ITV digital box, and both of them got them for nowt when they bought their tellies. They don't pay anything as they have the most basic, 6 channel package I think.

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2002

I'll buy any & all ITV digi boxes going

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2002

I hope it does go bust. They raised the prices so for the standard sky channels (e.g. skyone) the sky sports 1,2,3, and ITV Spots channels I have to pay more than the Sky everything all in package. And I dont even get any movie channels apart from the Carlton one.

If it goes bust I get out of the twelve month agreement.

How much for the box then.

-- Anonymous, April 03, 2002

Well, I just quit my agreement with them after 3 years. Mostly it's been good, but since we moved up I've not really had the same tv interest. Pub's too good :-)

BUT, if you want a bargain, give them a call. They were desperate to keep my custom, offering 3 months free telly, and free football too. Not enough to keep me going, but there was a certain desperation in the feller's voice.

I hope ITV Digital keep going, because a SKY filled future leaves me cold.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Let me see 2nd hand box for a subscription thats going down the pan - £15 sound ok.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Unfortunately, as Chris Tarrant pointed out on the tv ads, the box is free only for the duration of the agreement. And I reckon ITV Digital might ask a bit more than £15 for it should it go AWOL ;-)

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

If they go bust are they really going to be that bothered?

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

If I was in trouble with money I'd call on every single debt I could. I reckon the company's Administrators will think similarly :-)

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

So what value would these boxes be after the colapse. Apart from watching a few free channels they would surely be rendered useless unless somebody else picks up te mantle. Or would the parts be of worth.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

It's not their inherent worth, it's the contractual agreement. Somewhere there's probably a clause pinning me to £200 if I fail to return the unit.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

You have to give 30 days notice to quit, they then take out another months subsciption in case you don't hand the box back. And then when their delivery company (Lynx round our way) don't confirm the date for collection they then send out a letter saying you have 7 days to get a collection delivered or they'll inovice you for £200 for the box.

Funnily enough a search on loot shows you can buy a box for about £100 (the cost of the stuffed monkey on loot is £150 btw).

They offered me another box for another room in the house if I didn't stop the subscription, unfortunately (for them) Scratchy logic had taken hold - cancelling On Digital and their Champtions League coverage was bound to ensure NUFC qualification next season.

I phoned up yesterday to get another collection date and really felt sorry for the bloke on the other end of the line. He must be sh! ttin' himsel about losing his job - poor bugger it's not his fault is it?

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Pardon my naivety, but who in their right mind would give even a second's consideration to the idea that they could make money from televising 1st div football ad nauseum ?

Most of the clubs can't get enough people through the turnstiles anyway, so I just can't see the logic of expecting people to sign up for the televised version. At most they'd probably have a viewing audience of not many more than the fans of the two clubs playing.

They should have seen the writing on the wall before they even went into it. Channel 4 couldn't get enough viewers to keep the Italian premiership on at a peak time on a Sunday, and I know which I'd rather watch.

So it doesn't surprise me in the least that the golden goose hardly even hatched. And I agree, the saddest part is that it strengthens Sky's grip on football in general, not just the televising of it, although I don't suppose we should blame the clubs too much for making hay etc. I still think it could blow up in the faces of the prem clubs in a similar way.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Nationwide football on Sky got very decent audiences - ITV hadn't worked out that this was because folk had already paid for it as part of the total football package on there.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

I think Jacko's hit the nail on the proverbial Pit Bill. The entire deal was built on quicksand, and it seems one of those situations where ITV forgot when they were negotiating that the numbers being discussed were actually pound notes.

As you suggest, who in their right minds would agree to pay £300m for 3 years of Nationwide League football?

With regard to Sky, it is a virtual monopoly anyway. This is why ITV Digital and Telewest subscribers pay more than Sky subscribers - because Sky fix the rates, and naturally won't allow the other companies to deliver a package of mostly Sky programmes for even the same as they do.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

I can see the logic of that Jacko. A sort of audience apathy thing, but I bet Sky wouldn't have had many takers if it hadn't been already included.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Apparently, it is likely that Sky will take over the Nationwide contract eventually. While this is probably a negotiating stance, I read somewhere that they value it at £10m per season - seems about right to me!

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

I thought that sky were looking at ITV digital itself as a takeover prospect. Could be wrong but I thought I heard it on the news. The trouble with sky is the monopoly situation. In there defence though I heard that Canal are pretty much a monopoly themselves but more so than what sky has. Again don't know if it's true.

Trouble with all this is that even though I am a subscriber to ITV Digital and ITV Sport channel we have no solid information being passed our way.

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002

Its a Europe-wide trend, with serious implications for the health of the game:
Soccer reels as TV dream turns to dust

This time the bubble really looks like its about to bust. A recent report by the Dutch FA revealed all but the bigger clubs here are seriously in debt thanks largely to spiralling salary costs. The oldest professsional club in the country Sparta Rotterdam (who I watch) has such deep financial difficulties its at serious risk of going under (sob).

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2002

Well, there is a very simple solution to these problems - however it will be difficult to persuade the players to accept it.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2002

Letters seem to have been sent to all ITV Digital subscribers about the administration. Received mine yesterday, and it's basic. I also noted the customer support line has an option for info on the administration that you can choose.

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2002

I heard the German equivalent of SKY had just gone bust - can't remember the company name. They also have the rights to the World Cup. Wonder what's gonna happen there I wonder?

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2002

The Kirch group are expected to file for bankrupcy within days. Speculation is the German government will bail the clubs out (though opinion is divided on the wisdom of doing so, economically, financially and politically).

-- Anonymous, April 05, 2002

If ITV digital ask for their box back after you've sold it; simply change your name by deed poll then have a sex change and move house and return all mail from them marked "not known at this address"

Yours

Anna Mal

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2002