SwitchCo, the organisation that will officially oversee the nation’s switch to digital TV, has been launched, signalling a further step to the analogue switch off, planned to begin in 2008 and reach completion in 2012.
The organisation will be in charge of keeping the rollout of digital television, region by region, to a timetable agreed by the Government, as well as informing the public about the changes.
However, moving the UK over to digital will not be an easy process, with one of SwitchCo’s directors suggesting 2009 to 2013 as a better time for the move.
Speaking at the MediaTelINSIGHT Future of Digital TV Seminar, held earlier this week, David Scott, deputy chief executive at Channel 4 and SwitchCo director, said that although he was confident the switchover would be completed within the Government’s timeframe, there was a lot of work to be done.
Scott said: “Just looking back to the timetable, there’s a lot of engineering work that needs to be done, transmitters have to be built and the equipment put in at transmitter level. That in its self is a timetable which will take two years or so for each region and NTL and Crown Castle are companies who are going to do this.”
“They can’t do the whole country all at the same time, there’s a whole supply chain on getting hold of all the transmitters and compressors, so what will need to happen to meet the 2008 start process is that broadcasters will have to contract with the transmission providers probably around the end of this year. That leaves them with a two-year timetable through 2006 and 2007 for procurement and for installation work to happen.”
He continued: “The timetable has been laid down to a certain extent by Ofcom within the digital replacement licences which apply for Channel 4 or ITV, Channel Five and the Government within the BBC’s new charter.”
Despite the level of work that needs to be achieved, Scott was optimistic about the timings of the operation. He said: “I do think it is possible to meet the 2008 start point, by the end of this year we should be very much clearer on what has been contracted.”
However, the level of public knowledge about the switchover procedure is cause for concern.
Sitting on the seminar discussion panel, journalist and broadcaster Ray Snoddy raised the issue by saying: “All the people on this panel have been talking, writing and thinking about the switchover for over a decade, I am still staggered about the level of ignorance on this subject.”
“There’s going to be a huge need for a marketing and educational campaign, the very campaign that the Government shows no interest in funding.”
Scott agreed with Snoddy’s point and added: “Certainly all research does show that 5% of the homes are going to find this a very difficult process to achieve and finance themselves. They will need some support, how the government is going to do that I don’t know.”
These opinions confirm those found in MediaTel Group’s survey of the UK’s top media buying and planning agencies on the future of the TV landscape, finding a wide disparity in respondent’s views as to the winners and losers in the digital age (see Media Agencies Uncertain Of Digital Switchover).
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