Whatever happened to… On Digital?

QPoking about in my loft, I found an ‘On Digital’ box. My son gave me this years ago, because he thought I should get with the modern world. To be honest, I just put the box in the attic and forgot all about it – until now. Whatever happened to On Digital? Was it like the Freeview service that’s built into the TV I have now? And is this old box still useful in any way? I daren’t ask my son! Norman Turner

AOn Digital was a forerunner of Freeview. Launched in 1998, On Digital offered a mix of free-to-view channels and subscription services, delivered via set-top boxes that connected to standard domestic TV aerials. These boxes initially cost around £200, with paid-for (subscription) services priced to match similar packages offered by satellite TV company Sky.

But take-up of On Digital was slow, prompting co-owners Carlton and Granada to rebrand the service as ITV Digital in 2001. At the same time, the firm’s bosses spent big money securing the rights to show Premier League football matches. The £315m deal hinged on ITV Digital attracting sufficient subscribers and advertising revenues to cover the cost of the deal. That never happened and, despite an attempt to negotiate a discount on the agreed £315m price, by early 2002 ITV Digital was out of money — and out of business.

Keen to save the fledgling digital terrestrial TV (DTT) market, the government of the day quickly reawarded ITV Digital’s broadcasting licence to a new consortium headed by the BBC. That service was Freeview, which went live in late 2002.

Existing On Digital/itv Digital boxes did initially work with Freeview, but a variety of technical changes much later in the decade rendered almost all original DTT set-top boxes obsolete. So, while there’s a tiny chance your old box might decode Freeview signals and show them on a TV that lacks a Freeview tuner, it is in all likelihood now permanently useless — so take it to your local recycling centre. And don’t mention it to your son!