 If you do nothing, the chances are that your TV will stop working |
Residents in some parts of Britain have just three years to get their TV sets and aerials upgraded so that they can watch digital TV. The old-style analogue transmitters - which bring you just five TV services - will be switched off in the English and Scottish border regions in 2008, the government announced yesterday. The rest of the UK will gradually follow - so that by 2012, the whole country will have gone digital. This morning, Breakfast's business presenter Julia Caesar looked at what the digital revolution will mean for you:We put some of your e-mail questions to Ford Ennals, the Chief Executive of Digital UK, the company in charge of the roll-out If you can't get digital TV at the moment, don't panic and don't throw away your old TV, he told us. The aim is to increase the number of digital transmitters from 80 to around 1,000, to ensure the whole country can get digital TV. "Don't throw away your old TV," he added: you should be able to upgrade it with a set-top box to decode the digital signal. The timetable for the digital switchover was announced yesterday by the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. Around 63% of households already have at least one digital TV or set-top box. But there is concern that poorer families and older people may be left out.
Digital switch-over: a beginner's guide Most television sets and video recorders receive analogue signals only. If your TV can only get the normal five channels (BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel Four and Channel Five) then it's an analogue TV. You won't have to throw out your TV when the digital switch-over happens, but you will need to connect it to a special digital box. You can buy basic Freeview Boxes for as little as �50 in electrical stores and supermarkets. You'll need a separate box for every TV in the house - and you may find you're no longer able to one programme on your TV while recording another on the video. You may also need to upgrade your TV aerial: digital technology means that broadcast frequencies are "split" into many more channels. In practical terms, this means your TV will be much more sensitive to poor reception. It's thought around one in five households will need a new aerial. With a basic digital (freeview) box, you can receive around 40 TV channels (including the usual standard five channels), plus some radio channels. There is no subscription to pay. You can also get digital TV via cable or satellite. This provides you with many more than the basic 40 channels, but you will have to pay a subscription. The government has promised financial help for the elderly and those with "significant disabilities" who may be unable to afford to upgrade their TVs. If you don't upgrade your TV in some way, you won't be able to get any channels at all, when the digital switchover happens in your area. Timetable The digital switchover will happen, region by region, over the next seven years: 2008: Border TV and BBC services in the same area 2009: Wescountry, Wales, Granada and BBC services 2010: HTV West, Grampian and BBC services 2011: Yorkshire, Anglia, Central and BBC services 2012: Meridian, London, Tyne Tees, Ulster and BBC services Finding out more
The BBC has a website devoted to Digital TV and Radio, which includes a postcode search, to tell you whether digital channels are available in your area
There's a helpline, for questions about the Freeview package of digital channels: 08708 80 99 80 The government also has a website about the Digital switchover, run by the Department of Trade and Industry. This can tell you when your area is due to switch over.
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We put some of your questions to Ford Ennals of Digital UK
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