Low audience figures, piracy issues and an ultimately unaffordable multi-million pound deal with the Football League led to the broadcaster suffering large losses, and it entered administration in March 2002.

In October, ITV Digital’s former terrestrial multiplexes were taken over by Crown Castle and the BBC to create the Freeview free-to-air service.

[2] They faced competition from a rival, Digital Television Network (DTN), a company created by cable operator CableTel (later known as NTL).

[3] On 25 June 1997, BDB won the auction and the Independent Television Commission (ITC) awarded the sole broadcast licence for DTT to the consortium.

[7] The company would be based in Marco Polo House (since demolished) in Battersea, south London, which was previously the home of BSkyB's earlier rival, British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB).

ONdigital was officially launched on 15 November 1998 amid a large public ceremony featuring celebrity Ulrika Jonsson and fireworks around the Crystal Palace transmitting station.

[14] In February 1999, ITV secured the rights for UEFA Champions League football matches for four years,[15] which would partly be broadcast through ONdigital.

This was a problem for ONdigital, as they had no choice but to sell prepaid set top boxes to win customers back from rival services.

[24] Additional problems for ONdigital were the choice of 64QAM broadcast mode, which when coupled with far weaker than expected broadcast power, meant that the signal was weak in many areas; a complex pricing structure with many options; a poor-quality subscriber management system (adapted from Canal+); a paper magazine TV guide whereas BSkyB had an electronic programme guide (EPG); insufficient technical customer services; and much signal piracy.

[citation needed] ONdigital began to sell prepaid set-top boxes (under the name ONprepaid) from November 1999 in order to win customers, especially at the launch of other digital services from the likes of NTL and Telewest.

This bundle sold in high street shops and supermarkets at a price that included the set-top box (which was technically on loan) and the first year's subscription package.

As the call to activate the viewing card did not require any bank details, many ONdigital boxes which were supposed to be on loan were at unverifiable addresses.

[31] A rebranding campaign was launched, with customers being sent ITV Digital stickers to place over the ONdigital logos on their remote controls and set top boxes.

[40] The biggest cost the company faced was its three-year deal with the Football League,[41][42] which had been deemed too expensive by critics when agreed, as it was inferior to the top-flight Premiership coverage from Sky Sports.

[43] It was reported on 21 March 2002 that ITV Digital had proposed paying only £50 million for the remaining two years of the Football League deal, a reduction of £129m.

Chiefs from the League said that any reduction in the payment could threaten the existence of many football clubs, which had budgeted for large incomes from the television contract.

[45] Later, as chances of its survival remained bleak, the Football League sued Carlton and Granada, claiming that the firms had breached their contract in failing to deliver the guaranteed income.

[46] The league then filed a negligence claim against its own lawyers for failing to press for a written guarantee at the time of the deal with ITV Digital.

[54] By 30 April 2002, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) had revoked ITV Digital's broadcasting licence and started looking for a buyer.

A consortium made up of the BBC and Crown Castle submitted an application on 13 June,[55] later joined by BSkyB, and were awarded the licence on 4 July.

In January 2003, Carlton and Granada stepped in and paid £2.8m to the liquidators to allow the boxes to stay with their customers, because at the time the ITV companies received a discount on their broadcasting licence payments based on the number of homes they had converted to digital television.

[64][65] Barnsley had budgeted on the basis that the money from the ITV Digital deal would be received, leaving a £2.5 million shortfall in their accounts when the broadcaster collapsed.

[68] On 31 March 2002, French cable company Canal+ accused Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in the United States of extracting the UserROM code from its MediaGuard encryption cards and leaking it onto the internet.

[70][71] The action was later partially dropped after News Corporation agreed to buy Canal+'s struggling Italian operation Telepiu, a direct rival to a Murdoch-owned company in that country.

[74] In 2008, NDS was found to have broken piracy laws by hacking EchoStar Communications' smart card system, however only $1,500 in statutory damages was awarded.

[76][77] The accusations arose from emails obtained by the BBC, and an interview with Lee Gibling, the operator of a hacking website, who claimed he was paid up to £60,000 per year by Ray Adams, NDS's head of security.

[83] In early 2007, Monkey and Al reappeared in an advert for PG Tips tea, which at first included a reference to ITV Digital's downfall.