Riggers received the following letter (below) from Sales & Marketing Director Matt Seaman at Top Up TV following our lead editorial in Riggers 9. We're happy to give Top Up TV the chance to give their side of the story and tell installers about this new subscription option for DTT viewers, writes Pete French, Editor of Riggers magazine.

At the time of going to print, small quantities of the Thomson model mentioned by Matt in his letter are rumoured to be available in the UK. Several further manufacturers have confirmed that new Top Up TV compliant receivers will be available for installation work by September 2004. Pace tell us they will be able to enable card readers in their early DTVA receivers, and the Netgem i-Player is the first product that's available brand new that will work with the service with the addition of a Top Up TV CAM.

Prior to that, installers have the option of working with existing hardware that may be languishing unused in a customer's cupboard, mainly the original ITV Digital and ONdigital receivers. All it will take is an automatic software update to get the box ready for the subscription service. Added to that a large number of IDTV models may be used with the appropriate CAM and viewing-card combination. We suggest that you check out Top Up TV's website at www.topuptv.com for the most up to date information.

Dear Pete,

I read your comment piece regarding Top Up TV in the March edition of Riggers magazine Don't get Topped Up with a feeling of “what have we done to upset you?”

I hope that your readers all still have an open mind about Top Up TV, so let me try and put the record straight. Top Up TV launched at the end of March 2004. At this stage there were no new products available to receive Top Up TV in the market and for this reason our launch was deliberately low key and the marketing that has been done to date has been aimed at owners of ex-ITV Digital boxes, the only people at that stage able to receive our service.

The good news is that the first “Top Up TV ready” box, from Thomson, will be available during June, and other manufacturers will be introducing boxes later in the year. In addition there is a CAM available that will mean that most IDTVs can also now receive Top Up TV.

With hardware now available, Top Up TV wants to work closely with electrical retailers and installers to sell its service to customers. We have developed a 'Top Up TV Starter Pack' which allows customers to take the Viewing Card home with them, and dealers to make their commission at the point of sale. Top Up TV Starter Packs will be available from Solutions Group from June. If dealers want more information about selling Top Up TV in their store, they should register on our website.

We believe that Top Up TV gives dealers the opportunity to make more money out of selling Freeview, with little extra work. Hopefully that is good news for everybody, so I am hoping that Pete will be a lot more complementary about us in future editions of this magazine!

Matt Seaman
Sales & Marketing Director
Top UP TV