Freeview, the BBC service which has helped attract the previously reluctant middle classes to digital television, is to sit alongside a new range of pay channels, including porn.
Richard Desmond's Fantasy Channel will be one of the services featured on Top-Up TV, a new service launched today which will be available to owners of Freeview boxes that take subscription cards and homes with old ITV Digital boxes.
The Television X channel will run between 11pm and 5am, sharing space with a yet unnamed channel. The Fantasy Channel has been a successful business for the entrepreneur, becoming the most popular adult entertainment channel in the UK. A member of staff at the Fantasy Channel, who declined to be named, said the broadcaster was "very excited" about the new service.
As well as making an uncomfortable bedfellow for Freeview, Top Up-TV will limit the number of channels available on the BBC-backed service, whose offering includes CBeebies, ITV2 and shopping channel QVC.
It will offer 10 channels including Channel 4's E4 and Discovery for a monthly payment of £8-£10.
The new service is aimed at the 800,000 homes that still own ITV Digital boxes capable of taking a subscription card. It aims to break even with 250,000 subscribers.
Andy Duncan, director of marketing and communications at the BBC and chairman of Freeview, said Top-Up was separate from the non-pay service and would not affect its growth.
He admitted that room for increasing Freeview's present suite of 33 channels would be restricted by the new venture, which has taken up most of the remaining digital terrestrial spectrum.
"One of the issues is it takes away the opportunity to add more free channels," he said.
Mr Duncan said there might be room for one more channel on the digital terrestrial licence owned by Crown Castle, the television transmission company which co-owns Freeview with the BBC and satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
"There is still potentially a little bit of spectrum left. So if someone has a good idea they should get in quick," he said.
News that Freeview will remain a 33-channel venture will dent hopes that the service can maintain its current rate of growth. It is understood that 2.8 million people now watch Freeview, including owners of old ITV Digital boxes, with the platform expected to pass three million by the end of the month.
Mr Duncan said a lack of new additions to a portfolio of channels, which includes the five terrestrial stations, UK History and Sky News, would not affect Freeview's appeal. "What you find from people who have gone into Freeview is they like the fact that there are not too many channels," he said.
Mr Duncan stressed that the Fantasy Channel's appearance on Top-Up TV was entirely distinct from Freeview's own offering. "It is a separate company. Freeview will offer free channels and it is really a competitor to Sky and cable. I think there will be some people who will want to take that route," he added.
