Tesco Spark New Price War With Sale Of GBP10 Digital TV

Wed, 29 Aug 2007
 
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Tesco has unveiled its new digital TV box which plans to go on sale today at just £10 - starting a new price war in the process following one of the most low-key August bank holiday weekends for retail sales in recent years.

The UK’s leading supermarket chain claims its Techwood digital TV set-top box is the cheapest on sale in Britain, with its £10 price tag aiming to undercut its high street rivals by at least 50 per cent.

Asda’s cheapest digital TV box is priced at £24.99, Sainsbury’s Bush box set is on sale at £29.99 and Argos has a £19.99 digital TV set-up.

Tesco claim the move is designed to prepare consumers for a digital switchover, which should be fully completed by 2012.

A Tesco spokesman commented: "We know many of our customers are not ready for the change in the way their TV programmes are transmitted, so to get them prepared for the switchover from analogue, we are offering this."

However, announcement came as retail analysts SPSL reported that the number of people entering stores (footfall) had been cut by nearly 10 per cent compared to last year’s figures - five times worse than expected.

Tim Denison, of SPSL, said: "Consumer appetite to shop is beginning to wane."

"Higher mortgage payments and fuel prices mean people have less income to spend than they have had for the last five years. The squeeze is on."

The digital TV box, manufactured by Techwood, offers the standard 40 Freeview digital terrestrial TV channels and numerous radio stations, at half the cost of the previous cheapest set-top box on the market.

Freeview is regarded as a link between analogue TV services and digital TV offerings available via satellite or cable, which offer more channels and more interactive services.

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