13 Facts About ITV Digital

ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network.

On 31 January 1997, Carlton Television, Granada Television and satellite company British Sky Broadcasting together created British ITV Digital Broadcasting as a joint venture, and applied to operate three digital terrestrial television licences.

In February 1999, ITV secured the rights for UEFA Champions League football matches for four years, which would partly be broadcast through ONdigital.

ONdigital's growth slowed throughout 2000, and by the start of 2001 the number of subscribers was no longer increasing; meanwhile, its competitor Sky ITV Digital oversaw a dramatic increase in subscribers, spearheaded by the launch of interactive services, such as Open.

Rebrand was not without controversy, as SMG plc, UTV and Channel Television pointed out that the ITV Digital brand did not belong solely to Carlton and Granada.

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SMG and UTV initially refused to carry the advertising campaign for ITV Digital and did not allow the ITV Sport Channel space on their multiplex, thus it was not available at launch in most of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

ITV Digital was unable to make a deal to put the ITV Sport Channel on Sky, which could have given the channel access to millions of Sky customers and generated income; the channel was only licensed to cable company NTL.

On 27 March 2002, ITV Digital was placed in administration as it was unable to pay the full amount due to the Football League.

From 10 December 2002, ITV Digital's liquidators started to ask customers to return their set top boxes or pay a £39.

ITV Digital's collapse had a large effect on many football clubs.

Rights to show Football League matches were resold to Sky Sports for £95 million for the next four years compared to £315 million over three years from ITV Digital, leading to a reduction from £2 million per season to £700,000 in broadcasting revenue for First Division clubs.

ITV Digital ran an advertising campaign involving the comedian Johnny Vegas as Al and a knitted monkey simply called Monkey, voiced by Ben Miller.

At one time, original ITV Digital Monkeys were fetching several hundred pounds on eBay, and knitting patterns delivered by email were sold for several pounds.