It appears that a crucial inhibitor of the uptake of Digital Television is the cost price of set-top boxes, and it seems implausible that 95% penetration will be acheived without some subsidy. The source of subsidy that is of particular interest to me is funds allocated to the support of Electronic Voting.
As part of our research into the Implementation of Electronic Voting (for the consortium of DTLR, office of the e-Envoy, the Electoral Commission, SOLACE, IDeA, LGA), we are advocating interactive Digital TV as the single best option for home-based Electronic Voting. iDTV has the potential to offer penetration into a sufficiently high proportion of homes, and securing the integrity of the election is more manageable with iDTV than with other home-based approaches to Electronic Voting.
While there is potential for iDTV in Electronic Voting, and thus the logical possibility that Evoting funds could be used to subsidise set-top boxes, for this to happen it is vital that set-top boxes for widesread distribution are suitable for electronic voting.
The potential for interactivity is essential: set-top boxes without a return path, for example, could not be used for electronic voting, and thus could not be subsidised by Evoting finance. It is also essential that hardware and software are produced and distributed under secure conditions which assure that openly available specifications have been followed, to ensure that corrupt or incompetant suppliers do not put the British electoral system in jeopardy. A final essential element is that an election does not become vulnerable to a single point of failure, thus if iDTV is to be used for Evoting, routing through a single (or very small number of) satellite(s) and ground stations could not be used for more than a minority of voters: DTT and/or digital cable are essential elements in Evoting by iDTV.
If set-top boxes are suitable, there appears to be potential for Evoting funds to be used to subsidise set-top boxes for widespread distribution, thus enabling 95% DTV penetration.