SYDNEY-- Australians will have to wait for digital pay TV -- dominant platform Foxtel confirmed Wednesday it's delaying its roll out until early 2004.
The paybox had hoped to switch to digital in the last quarter of this year, but the launch of Optus' C1 satellite was postponed after the Ariane 5 rocket that should have carried it exploded in December.
The bird is now due to fly at the end of June, several months later than planned.
"We will start testing our digital signals on cable before Christmas but the satellite and public roll out won't happen until early 2004," Foxtel CEO Kim Williams told
Daily Variety.
Foxtel and its shareholders Telstra, News Corp. and Publishing and Broadcasting are spending $A657 million ($395 million) on the upgrade, including the cost of decoders and satellite transponders.
In the first stage, it will offer 120 channels including 30 screening movies on near-VOD. Williams aims to finalize the line-up in May/June.
He's confident the greater choice afforded by digital, plus the superior picture and sound, near VOD and interactive sports and news services will drive pay TV penetration, which lags at a lowly 23%.
The terrestrial channels are airing some programs in the new format but take-up has been slow. Williams estimates just 20,000 homes have digital TV sets, a tiny fraction of the nation's 7.2 million TV households.
Foxtel, which offers 47 analog channels, reported subscriber numbers grew to 1.05 million through Dec. 31 with the addition of cabler Optus' homes.
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