Stricken ITV Digital pulls the plug

ALL the ITV Digital pay channels stopped broadcasting tonight after adminstrators to the stricken company pulled the plug on subscription services.

Every channel broadcast through the terrestrial digital channel from Sky, UKTV and other paid-for services ceased.

At the same time 1,300 staff were warned that they had lost their jobs at the company's call centres in Pembroke and Plymouth.

The end of ITV Digital came as the administrators failed to resolve the £315m contract with the Football League, and it means that many football clubs will now be in financial crisis.

It will also be a major blow to ITV's main owners Granada and Carlton, which sank almost £900m into the project.

ITV Digital's 1.2 million subscribers will find most of their favourite channels are blank tonight with, at best, the testcard using Johnny Vaughan and his monkey on most of their 50-odd channels.

Sources inside administrators Deloitte & Touche said due to the lack of success in finding a serious bidder, the pay-per-view channels, including those run by Sky and MTV, would all be switched off this evening.

Free-to-air channels such as BBC Choice and ITV 2 will continue to run until the company finally runs out of cash - expected to be by the end of this week.

Until that time, the administrators will continue trying to find a buyer for the remaining assets.

No assurances are being given to customers.