BSkyB in talks with ITV over pay TV

Talks are going on between the satellite broadcaster BSkyB and its terrestrial rival ITV over how they can switch ITV’s advert-based free to view channels over to a subscription based arrangement available through the Sky TV network.

If this went ahead it would mean that users of Freesat and Freeview services would no longer be able to view the channels that move over to the subscription based model, such as ITV2.

ITV has been forced to re-evaluate its situation, as the advertising revenues for all TV channels have been falling steadily over the last couple of years.

It is entirely possible that ITV could go all in and make ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 all subscription channels.

This would in theory raise extra revenue but only if the consumer is willing to pay for the content.