Government reassures licensees of ITV Digital's continued services

Licensees have been reassured that ITV Digital's services will continue for the time being, even though the company has gone into administration.

The channel announced last week it was in the hands of administrators after it admitted it would not be able to pay the £178m it still owes the Football League for the rights to screen Nationwide League and Worthington Cup matches.

A last ditch attempt to save the channel has now been launched by its owners Carlton Communications and Granada. They have said there is a "fair chance" of ITV Digital surviving and have promised to continue to fund the channel.

The government has made a statement reassuring customers, including licensees, that they will be able to continue showing the matches for the time being.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell (pictured)​ said: "Viewers will continue to receive all the free to air and pay services which they are used to while a long-term solution is being sought. The administrator will negotiate with suppliers including, of course, the Football League."

The channel ran into trouble when it paid more than it could afford for the rights to screen Nationwide matches. Now the estimated 5,000 licensees who signed up for the channel are waiting to hear what will happen to the service.

Scottish & Newcastle Retail has many pubs which subscribe to ITV Digital. A spokeswoman for the company said it was too early to make a decision on whether to pull the channel from its outlets.

"We are continuing to assess both Sky and ITV Digital on a pub by pub basis to see which package will most meet the needs of each individual pub," she added.

According to city sources, buyers are already considering taking over ITV Digital. But so far speculation suggests that any prospective buyer may not want anything to do with the three-year deal with the Football League - the reason licensees signed up for the channel's commercial package.

When ITV Digital launched the commercial sports package last summer, it hoped to attract licensees who were disgruntled with the high prices Sky was charging for its own football coverage.

But although the trade welcomed the new package as a competitor to Sky, licensees of sports pubs found themselves under pressure to buy both channels - or risk losing customers.