£100 box will help TV viewers keep pace with the revolution

A cut-price set-top box that requires no subscription will allow viewers to join the digital TV revolution from this spring for a one-off payment of £100.

Pace Micro Technology unveiled the box. It is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand and will be on sale from the end of March. Attached to any TV set, it will give householders a crisp digital image and access to the fast-growing range of free digital channels.

Instead of paying nearly £200 a year to subscribe to a basic package on BSkyB or ITV Digital, a single payment of £99.99 will give households access to the digital world.

The typical Sky subscriber pays £38 a month and 60 per cent of Britain's 24 million households have so far resisted paying for the channels offered by Sky or ITV Digital.

The Pace Adapter will not give access to premium commercial and subscription channels, such as sport, movies or music, but it will carry free-to-air offerings from the BBC and ITV. It may prove a saviour to ITV Digital, which the box can be upgraded to receive.

People who buy the adapters will be able to watch the March launch of BBC4, a new high-brow channel described as the television version of Radio 4, and possibly BBC3, a new youth channel, which is waiting for government approval. Already free to air are BBC Choice, BBC Knowledge, BBC News 24 and ITV2, an entertainment channel struggling to find a substantial audience.

Andrew Wallis, Pace's director of marketing, said: "We are aiming at people interested in dipping their toe in the water of digital TV." The Pace gadget will be available from the usual high street retailers and can be simply installed, with the signal coming via the ordinary aerial.

* Ratings released by the British Audience Research Board show a 13.5 per cent drop across all commercial channels compared with a year ago. The introduction of more young people and viewers with London addresses to its panels appear to be factors in the fall.