Tim Westcott / Published - 17 Oct 08

Discovery Communications is to launch a free-to-air channel in the UK early next year. The channel will be distributed on digital terrestrial (DTT) and will be the US company's first network in the UK not to be funded partly by cabsat carriage fees. The move is a response to tough competitive conditions in what is, as well as Discovery's largest market outside the US, one of the most competitive in the world. Discovery is not the only US cable programmer to adapt its business model in the international market as the free DTT footprint gets bigger than pay cable and satellite.