National Grid Wireless Announces Agreement With Channel 4 for Additional Digital Terrestrial TV Broadcast Capacity

28 November 2005

National Grid Wireless (formerly known as Crown Castle UK), the mobile telecommunication and broadcast transmission infrastructure company, has announced that Channel 4 has been selected through an auction process to take up an additional digital TV channel on multiplex D, part of the UK's digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform.

This new capacity on multiplex D is being made available as a result of National Grid Wireless taking advantage of improvements in infrastructure technology and maximising the value of scarce DTT resource.

Steven Marshall, chief executive officer of National Grid Wireless, commenting on the agreement said: "This latest agreement demonstrates our commitment to delivering on one of our strategic objectives – maximising the value of our assets. At the same time we have been able to provide viewers of the Freeview service with greater choice."

Andy Duncan, Channel 4 chief executive, said: "Capacity on Freeview is a scarce commodity and this deal allows us to accommodate our full current line-up of free channels on the platform and to keep our options open for further channel launches in the future. We’re very confident that this investment will pay off with an increasingly strong showing for our channels in the digital TV homes.”

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Notes to Editors:

National Grid Wireless is a wholly owned subsidiary of National Grid and is the leading independent provider of infrastructure to the mobile telecommunications operators in the UK, with over 14,500 tenants throughout the UK.

National Grid Wireless is one of two UK providers of terrestrial infrastructure for the transmission of analogue and digital television and radio broadcasts in the UK and as such achieves a 98% population coverage. In addition to the traditional analogue services, National Grid Wireless has a strong position in the growing digital television market, owning two of the six digital terrestrial television licences and providing infrastructure services to all the Freeview channels and the BBC and BSkyB.

For further information:

Stephen Arnold
National Grid Wireless
+44 (0) 1926 416 870
+44 (0) 7803 887 288 (m)