When was the itv digital ballsup?
ITTL I could certainly see a BBC buy up to make it a payperview service that could subsidise the license fee.
Itv digital had a significant amount of FA rights do I'd assume that could be picked up as a ppv channel.AS in OTL 2002
Would people want to pay for rolling news?
RTE: Irish people are lucky because they get free television. And the Irish television network is great value for money, so you should buy it. And you have to buy it or you go to prison. These are the three kinds of ads they show on RTE for RTE. Sometimes they combine two of the three, and I heard one on the radio that gave equal time to all three.
I can't imagine it's that hard to turn it into a paid streaming and free broadcast service. Almost everyone in Ireland would buy it, and it would sell millions upon millions overseas because there really is good television coming out of the island. There is no political will to make it a legitimate organization.
TIMELINE
1991: Brief existence of BBC rolling news radio service during Gulf War galvanises those within BBC to push for a permanent station
1994: Radio 5 Live launches gaining between 4 and 6.5 million. TV bosses are interested.
1997: BBC NOW is launched as part of the corporation's digital output.