The UK’s first terrestrial digital TV provider was a company called ONDigital. ON was renamed ITVDigital in 2002, to try and battle the high number of subscribers leaving the service. The company imploded a few months later and the service died horribly. When the service stopped, I was half way through a 12-month pre-paid subscription. It was a good deal – £99 for 12 months, plus you got a ‘free’ set top box to watch the service with. When the contract ended, you either renewed it, or sent the box back. Like I say, I was half way through my subscription at the time, so I was a little miffed.
ITVDigital’s liquidators were making lots of noise about asking for the set top boxes back, as they still technically owned them. This was about a year later, and I’d already subscribed to Sky Digital. I’d given my old set top box to my parents so they could use it to see the ‘free to air’ channels from the BBC and ITV that remained.
The notion that they should want the box back was something of a slap in the face, considering I was already effectively £50 out of pocket. They also said at the time that subscribers would be the last to receive any refunds, as although there were plenty of us, we each only accounted for a tiny amount, compared to the likes of the TV channels who were owed carriage money.
Today, I received a letter – the first since 2003 – saying that they are finally divvying up the monies left over, and I will be receiving 9.1 pence for every pound – that means I’ll be getting the princely sum of £2.97!
I’ve yet to decide what to spend it on! That’s a lot of money where I come from. I could buy a big bag of sweets with that money! Well – a bag big enough to make me feel a bit ill if I ate them all quickly.
I’ve just got to get myself up to the bank and pay this cheque in!
