Meanwhile, the market for regular analog TV sets remains buoyant, with close to five million selling each year. For digital broadcasters like ONdigital, the pay TV network, these figures are frustrating. ONdigital has been forced to follow the lead of Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB and give away its set-top boxes. With demand so weak, leading manufacturers like Sony, Philips, Grundig and Bush pay little more than lip service to iDTVs as the future of home entertainment, and they invest little in their development or promotion. IDTV sets offer high-definition images, which in terms of clarity, contrast and detail are significantly better than their analog counterparts.
Viewers also have access to many more channels.
Furthermore, the latest innovations are cheaper to introduce through set-top box technology than through integration into a new set. The government could stimulate the digital market overnight by confirming a date for switching off the analog signal. Politicians want to free the part of the radio spectrum that analog TV uses and to promote new services, but they remain coy about committing to an exact date. Some time between 2006 and 2010 is favored, though few in the industry believe even the later date is feasible. A recent survey by the Consumers Association found that two-thirds of the population remain unaware of the government's intentions.