Interactive service Open…is to target females in a major marketing drive this autumn. It is understood that it has committed to a heavyweight presence in women’s magazines and plans a substantial showing at out-of-town super-centres, showing shoppers how easy it is to navigate the system and the merits of digital tele-shopping. Retail chain Next is the latest major brand to join Open… and other announcements are understood to be imminent. Meanwhile, grocery chain Somerfield, already committed to the platform, said Open… plans to spend Pounds 16 million on its autumn advertising campaign.

The news comes as the UK digi-box give-away begins to generate impressive results. Digital terrestrial operator ONdigital reported last week it had achieved 247,000 subscribers since its November 1998 launch, with 137,000 signing up in the three months to June.

Meanwhile BSkyB, according to analyst Matthew Horsman of investment bankers Investec Henderson Crosthwaite, has achieved well over one million digital subscribers. He said BSkyB has 970,000 digital subscribers of which 270,000 are new subscribers and the rest former analogue subscribers, with another 170,000 contracts agreed and awaiting installation.

Both companies are preparing for the vital autumn and pre-Christmas sales push. ONdigital will now deliver boxes free-of-charge direct to subscribers homes, while BSkyB has signed up the Toys’R’Us chain and supermarkets for promotions. Both BSkyB and ONdigital are offering similar "40 per cent off ‘phone calls" promotions, designed to combat cable’s impending digital launches head on.

BSkyB does have a cloud on its horizon, with a claim before the ITC that its bundling of film channels is anti-competitive. The inquiry is expected this autumn. Last week ONdigital CEO Stephen Grabiner said BSkyB’s film policy was operating against the consumer interest, and that ONdigital wanted viewers to be able to buy all premium channels on an a la carte basis, not in bundles. Currently BSkyB’s film channels are discounted progressively to viewers: the more that are bought the cheaper they become.