First Welsh Villages To Drop Analogue TV Tonight
Digital TV will rule the airwaves in the Welsh villages of Ferryside and Llansteffan tonight as the Government takes its first step towards creating a digital-only television service for Britain, switching off the analogue signal to nearly 500 homes.
The move will place the two small villages on a par with Berlin as the only areas in Europe with digital-only television signals. The move will be used as a learning exercise, with the Government’s findings used to plan the course for the rest of the UK in achieving switchover nation wide by 2012.
Media super-regulator, Ofcom, set out the timetable for digital switchover earlier this year, specifying that the Border, Westcountry and HTV Wales areas would be the first to be converted to digital in 2008. However, tonight’s move will come ahead of a full-scale switchover for the regions, acting more as a trial run than as an early move towards complete conversion (see Digital Switchover To Begin In Three Years).
The trial is being run as a joint effort between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Trade and Industry. Speaking to the Guardian this morning, Stella Thomas, one of the project’s team leaders, said: “People have been more open to change than perhaps we have given them credit for in rural areas.”
According to the report, a recent survey of residents in Ferryside found that 98% wished to convert to digital TV permanently. However, the technical challenge of achieving switchover has proved greater than originally thought, with the date for switchover gradually slipping from 2007 to 2010 before being confirmed as 2012 (see Ofcom Announces Plans For Early Digital Switch-Over).
Another hurdle to be overcome on the road to digital-only TV in Britain is the cost of receivers and digital equipment. Ofcom’s Consumer Panel published a report last year, stating that the cost of converting the nation’s televisions to receive digital-only signals could reach up to £400 million, with help required from the Government in order to ensure the most vulnerable members of society upgrade to digital television in time for the 2012 switchover (see Government Could Face £400m Bill For Digital Switchover).
However, acceptance of digital TV by the British public is growing, with nearly half of all UK households able to receive digital signals at the beginning of last year (see Half Of UK Homes Ready For Digital Switchover). And while the figure is still a long way from the Government’s pre-switchover target of 90%, the growing momentum of services such as Freeview have helped in attracting those previously adverse to the technology.
Freeview saw record Christmas sales last year, pushing the number of digital terrestrial-equipped households up to the five million mark and delivering extra channels to at least one million more homes than at the same point in 2003 (see Christmas Shoppers Push Freeview Into Five Million Homes).
DCMS: 020 7211 6200 www.dcms.gov.uk DTI: 020 7215 5000 www.dti.gov.uk Freeview: 08708 80 99 80 www.freeview.co.uk
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