About the Future TV Taskforce
The Future TV Taskforce brings together the UK’s public service broadcasters – the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5, STV and S4C – alongside Everyone TV, the organisation behind Freely, Freeview and Freesat. The Taskforce helps to shape the national conversation about how television is distributed in the UK, and how the way people want to watch TV will evolve in the years ahead.
Television is changing as audiences are increasingly choosing to watch programming via the internet, and becoming progressively less reliant on aerial TV. With current broadcast licences due to expire in 2034, the Government is reviewing how free-to-air television will be provided in the future. No decisions have yet been taken, but this review creates a natural point to reflect on how audiences watch TV today and how best to secure universal access for the long term.
The Future TV Taskforce works to ensure that decisions about the future of TV distribution are made carefully, collaboratively and with viewers firmly at the centre.
Our position
The Taskforce supports a carefully planned, managed transition from digital terrestrial television (DTT) to internet delivered TV and a potential switch off in the mid2030s, as part of a broader, UK-wide digital inclusion and transition plan. Done well, this approach can protect universal access to public service broadcasting; support innovation and investment across the TV sector; and deliver long-term benefits for viewers and the UK economy.
Above all, the Future TV Taskforce believes that the future of television should be inclusive, resilient, and designed around the needs of all audiences to ensure that everyone can continue to access trusted UK content as technology and viewing habits evolve.
Stats about the future of TV
Today
90% of homes would be able to continue watching TV if aerials were turned off today...
...and 97% of all TV homes wouldn’t have to pay anything extra for broadband.
99% of viewers aged 70+ who are using internet-delivered TV value the new features.
In the mid-2030s
Only 330k homes would need support in a planned switch-off. The last TV switch-off left no one behind.
£21bn - £31bn would be added to the economy each year if we get everyone in the UK online – which TV can help drive.
>£1bn extra the PSBs would have to spend on extending an aerial service, with fewer channels, to 2045 – at the expense of programme budgets.
Sources: ETV analysis of Barb data, Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates, PwC
Jonathan Thompson: We must work together to embrace the digital-only future
Ignore the naysayers – with proper collaboration, no one will be left behind, the Freely boss says.
Read the report
Letters: Understanding the bigger picture on Freeview and internet TV
Jonathan Thompson, Helen Milner and Mathew Horsman on proposals to switch off digital terrestrial television
Full article
The Socioeconomic Impact of Digital Transition
PwC’s socioeconomic impact assessment of achieving digital inclusion in the UK, in the context of the ongoing policy debate on the future of TV distribution. Commissioned by the BBC and Everyone TV.
Read the report
DCMS: Future of TV Distribution
An independently researched report that examines how trends in the distribution and consumption of television are likely to develop in the UK up to 2040 without further policy intervention.
Read the report
Ofcom: Future of TV Distribution
Ofcom’s early review of market changes that may affect the way content reaches audiences on Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT).
Read the Ofcom report
Stream On: The Future of UK TV
O&O’s independent, audience-led study exploring the future of TV in an increasingly internet-based world. Commissioned by Sky.
Read the DCMS FoD report