EPG pressure grows on Freeview's DTT service

Freeview, the BBC/BSkyB free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) initiative are being pressured to incorporate an Electronics Programme Guide into their service.
Industry insiders claim that EPGs, which provide the broadcast schedule for the next seven days, encourage viewers to switch up and down channels. Freeview currently provides viewers with 30 channels.
Over the week up to Easter, though the audience for multichannel TV outweighed viewing figures for BBC1 and ITV for the first time, Freeview viewers were significantly less likely to view non-terrestrial channels than their cable TV and Sky Digital counterparts, according to Barb figures.
Dealers complain that Freeview's lack of an EPG currently makes it more difficult for them to sell the new range of digital video recorders (DVRs) coming onto the market, as these are significantly more easily programmed using an EPG.
(GB)