ITV Digital has been put into administration following an appearance before the High Court.

However, culture secretary Tessa Jowell has said she continues to have a strong belief in the benefits that "digital television can provide to our society and the economy."

Gerald Kaufman, the Labour MP and chair of the Commons Culture Media and Sport committee, said: "The cost burden of the subscribers was so great I could never see how they could get into profit."

Forum Response: Independent Television Commission

A spokesman for the Independent Television Commission told ePolitix.com: "The ITC welcomes confirmation that the ITV Digital service will be maintained during the administration for its over one million existing viewers. Free-to-air public service broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will also continue digital broadcasting of their public services on digital terrestrial television.

"The ITC, as the regulator of the independent television sector, has been in close contact with ITV Digital and its shareholders since the restructuring of the company was confirmed last month.

"The ITC is advising the Administrator of the ITC's statutory responsibilities in respect of the multiplex licences and of the viewers' interest in a continued pay TV service. Digital terrestrial television has an important role in the UK's broadcasting ecology and is crucial to the path to switchover. We hope the continuing negotiations are successful."

Forum Response: Consumers' Association

Allan Williams, senior policy adviser at the Consumers' Association, told ePolitix.com: "This is a blow for ITV Digital subscribers who must now wait to find out whether they will lose the services they have paid for. We want to see the administrators and the ITC working together to reassure existing customers about service levels.

"This raises further questions about the government's plans to switch off analogue television. It clearly demonstrates that pay-TV companies alone cannot deliver the government's 95 per cent take-up target. This shows what happens when industry is left to define and deliver government policy.

"Pay-TV has attracted around a third of households in Britain, but the market for sports and film is now saturated. It is now more urgent than ever to find a viable free-to-air digital option.

"The government has promised not to switch off the analogue signal before digital TV is affordable and available to all. The government cannot realistically expect to meet this target between 2006 and 2010 which raises serious questions about whether switch-off is practical or justifiable."

Forum Response: BBC

A spokesman for the BBC told ePolitix.com: "We hope that ITV Digital overcomes its problems and survives. However, if this doesn't happen, we are confident that there is a future for digital terrestrial television.

"We can reassure our audiences that the BBC's free to view digital services, including the new digital TV channels - News 24, CBBC, Cbeebies and BBC Four - will continue to be available to everyone with an ITV Digital box, whatever happens to ITV Digital.

"Obviously, audiences receiving the BBC's channels via digital satellite and digital cable will also be unaffected."