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Digital TV Rollout in the UK
By mobile | March 27, 2007
Digital Rollout
The Government’s plan to replace the last of the analogue television signals with digital ones by 2012 means that the whole of the UK will soon have access to digital TV.
While 15 million people already enjoy the benefits of high quality sound and vision, and interactive services that come with digital television, more than a quarter of the UK currently has no access whatsoever to digital TV – but this is set to change as the Government’s switchover plan begins to roll out next year. (DTI, 2006).
Switching over according to individual ITV regions, the Government plans to have more than 98 per cent of the UK covered by some form of digital television by 2012 along the following timeline:
2008 – Border.
2009 – Westcountry, Wales (previously HTV Wales), Granada.
2010 – West (previously HTV West), Grampian, Scottish.
2011 – Central, Yorkshire, Anglia.
2012 – Meridian, London (previously Carlton/LWT), Tyne Tees, Ulster.
There are however, areas where TV regions overlap, so this is a rough guide. For more exact information use the Digital UK (link to www.digitaluk.co.uk) postcode checker to see what digital options are currently available to you and exactly when the switchover should be happening in your area.
Because digital television uses a different type of technology to the traditional analogue signal, you will need a set-top box or integrated TV to decode the signal for viewing. There are four ways that you can view digital TV; digital terrestrial television, cable, satellite, or the relatively new broadband DSL TV services. Read our article on Digital television for more information on each of these.
Prior to each region’s switchover, consumers will be warned of the imminent changes.
1. On-screen messages will say that from next month one analogue service (for example BBC Two) will no longer be available.
2. On the named date, the analogue service stops and the digital multiplex carrying BBC Two (and also BBC One, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies) will move to the frequency channel vacated by analogue channel BBC Two.
3. Shortly afterwards, messages will appear on screen saying that some or all of the other analogue services are about to stop.
4. On the named day, or days, BBC One, ITV1, Channel 4 (or S4C in Wales) and Five will stop transmitting in analogue, and the multiplexes carrying these digital services will move to the frequency channels vacated by the analogue services.
All of these changes should happen overnight, and each TV or set-top box will need to rescan so that the viewer can watch the new digital channels. However, some households won’t be able to receive digital television until the switchover has been completed in their region. These people will have extra prompts so that they can be fully prepared, and have their equipment installed before the analogue is completely switched off.
Doing a postcode search will show you what options are available to you, but you can also get in touch with your internet service provider to find out if you can access TV over broadband, a fast-growing service. Click here to read our article on TV over broadband.
Topics: Satellite-TV |
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