Long term it would have been very good business, but we were not willing to continue the service on our own

Emyr Hughes, SDN Managing Director

SDN managing director Emyr Hughes said they were unable to continue the service alone once the administrators had decided to stop funding it.

But the company is actively seeking ways of restoring the pay-per-view service, which it says could become a valuable source of income for S4C.

The closure of ITV Select came as a surprise to viewers on Monday evening.

The pay-per-view channels were replaced by a caption stating that the service had ceased transmitting.

Movies were seen as a money-making venture

Mr Hughes said ITV Select had not yet begun to make money for its partners, but it had not been a huge cash drain either.

He said: "The failure of ITV Digital to continue funding ITV Select is clearly a cause for sadness.

"Long term it would have been very good business, but we were not willing to continue the service on our own," he added.

SDN is believed to be in negotiations with other suppliers for replacement programming, including the possibility of a restored pay-per-view service.

Mr Hughes stressed that the "technical functionality" of the pay-per-view service was still in place and could easily be reactivated if another partner was found.

The closure of ITV Select is not expected to have a direct impact on jobs in Wales.

But it will do nothing to reassure the 900 people already concerned about their jobs at ITV Digital's call centre at Pembroke, west Wales.

The call centre is the biggest private employer in Pembrokeshire

They were hoping that administrators Deloitte & Touche would be able to find a buyer for the ITV Digital after putting it up for sale on Sunday evening.

Along with colleagues in other parts of the UK, they have been handling queries about ITV Select as part of the overall ITV Digital customer service operation.

ITV Select directly employed 12 staff based at ITV Digital headquarters in Battersea, London.

SDN, a joint venture involving S4C, NTL and United News & Media, employs nine people at its headquarters in Cardiff and contracts out most of its operations.

The company was set up by S4C to operate one of the six digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplexes, or groups of channels.

The monkey mascot has failed to save ITV Digital

As well as the pay-per-view movies, multiplex A also broadcasts free-to-air channels including S4C and S4C2 in Wales, Channel 5 across the UK, and Gaelic programmes in Scotland.

These were unaffected by the closure of ITV Select.

S4C chief executive Huw Jones has warned in recent months about the cost of producing at least 12 hours a day of Welsh-language programmes for their digital channel.

The company will still be hoping to use the spare spectrum for premium or pay-per-view channels to help bolster its income from public funding and advertising.