How can niche/thematic channels gain pay TV distribution in a world dominated by global players?

This paper looks at the prospects for niche/thematic channels as the pay TV industry shapes up to digital. It suggests there is a breed of channels, dubbed 'independents', that can add value, variety, depth and originality to digital services and channel bouquets, much as currently happens in the world of published consumer magazines. However, such independent TV services have struggled to find distribution in the analogue world, and despite the promise of digital creating a more open situation not unlike publishing, with more capacity, some formidable obstacles remain and threaten to 'carry-over' from analogue. These range from inflexibility in the parcelling-out of satellite capacity to the management of slot capacity in digital receiver-decoders. The paper puts forward a four-point plan designed to secure a fair slice of the digital future for independent channels.