Will the Pace decoder help or hinder the digital expansion? Not everyone is sold on the benefit of Pace Technology. (Spotlight On: Pace).(Brief Article)

100 [pounds sterling]? A handsome price. Very handsome indeed. For a ton you'd be hard pushed to pick up a "recycled" digital decoder box in a pub off the Old Kent Road. This new Pace Micro Technology decoder gizmo could put a lot of entrepreneurial geezers out of business.

The much heralded digital adaptor from Pace will be on sale by April -- and last week it was being celebrated as great news by just about everybody. Probably because just about everybody in the broadcast establishment has a stake in this -- the BBC even ran a clumsy infomercial for the new device on Radio 4's Today programme.

The box (which everyone describes as being the "size of a small book") is the first concrete evidence that the so-called "digital coalition" is more than an exercise in wishful thinking and agreeable lunches. The coalition, which began to form at the end of 2001, is an informal grouping that includes the BBC, ITV Digital and its shareholders, Granada and Carlton, as well as Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Its aim is to kick start digital penetration at the bottom end of the market -- the territory inhabited by those awkward customers who can't see the point of multi-channel high-definition TV, can't afford it, or both.

Malcolm Miller, the chief executive of Pace, says: "Low-cost technology is just one part of the solution to full take-up of digital TV. To achieve full switch we need to take a fresh look at digital content to ensure it is both useful and compelling."

Pace will be backed by content from the broadcasters who are developing a coherent package of 20 free-to-air digital channels, which includes the five terrestrial networks plus digital brand extensions such as ITV2, E4 and BBC4. There are also plans to put marketing clout behind both the boxes and the channel package.

Everyone, you might think, is set to be a winner.