Digital TV switchover
For people reading this who live in Copeland and watch television: this will affect you in October 2007 when the existing TV signal for most of the borough is switched off. Anyone reading this in the rest of the UK: this will still affect you within the next few years when the change reaches your area.
The government and broadcasters have decided to switch everyone over from the original "analogue" TV signal to a new "digital" system. The Whitehaven TV area will be the first part of the country affected when the analogue TV signal is replaced over the next few years. A meeting was organised in Whitehaven Civic Hall on Thursday to describe how this will happen.
The process is being managed by a company called Digital UK. When they refer to the "Whitehaven TV area", they mean a much wider area than local residents usually understand by the name "Whitehaven - it actually covers the great majority of Copeland. Small areas around Parton and St Bees are covered by their own transmitters which will not switchover until 2008, and there is an area south of the mountains around Corney Fell and Black Coombe, including Haverigg, Millom, Duddon Bridge and Ulpha which is also served by other transmitters and will switch over later.
The rest of Copeland, including Whitehaven, Distington, Sandwith, Bigrigg, Egremont, Cleator, Cleator Moor, Frizington, Arlecdon, Rowrah, Lamplugh, Ennerdale, Beckermet, Calderbridge, Gosforth, Seascale, Wasdale, Eskdale, Ravenglass, Waberthwaite, and Bootle, will lose the existing TV signal in October 2007.
From that point, to receive the main TV channels, viewers in this area will need a set-top box for each pre-digital TV they wish to use. These cost about £25. Anyone who wants to record one channel while watching another would be well advised to buy a digital recorder.
Anyone buying a TV from now on should check that it has the "Digital ready" mark which consists of the word digital followed by a tick in a box. This is different from the High Definition ready mark (HDD ready).
There is a package of targetted assistance available to help older and disabled residents with this change, but I am concerned that the net for this may have been drawn too narrowly. The package is available to residents over 75 or those registered blind or disabled: it is free for those on pensions credit or receiving disability support, but there is a "small charge" for other residents.
There is a problem with this - it is estimated that a third of the poorest pensioners do not apply for pensions credit, presumably because they have trouble with the pages of complicated forms. Those people are not going to be happy about having to pay for new equipment to be able to continue to watch their TV. The government needs to look again at eligibility for the assistance scheme.
There will be another public meeting in December to discuss the issues arising from the switchover. I suspect there will be - and should be - a lot more debate about this.
The government and broadcasters have decided to switch everyone over from the original "analogue" TV signal to a new "digital" system. The Whitehaven TV area will be the first part of the country affected when the analogue TV signal is replaced over the next few years. A meeting was organised in Whitehaven Civic Hall on Thursday to describe how this will happen.
The process is being managed by a company called Digital UK. When they refer to the "Whitehaven TV area", they mean a much wider area than local residents usually understand by the name "Whitehaven - it actually covers the great majority of Copeland. Small areas around Parton and St Bees are covered by their own transmitters which will not switchover until 2008, and there is an area south of the mountains around Corney Fell and Black Coombe, including Haverigg, Millom, Duddon Bridge and Ulpha which is also served by other transmitters and will switch over later.
The rest of Copeland, including Whitehaven, Distington, Sandwith, Bigrigg, Egremont, Cleator, Cleator Moor, Frizington, Arlecdon, Rowrah, Lamplugh, Ennerdale, Beckermet, Calderbridge, Gosforth, Seascale, Wasdale, Eskdale, Ravenglass, Waberthwaite, and Bootle, will lose the existing TV signal in October 2007.
From that point, to receive the main TV channels, viewers in this area will need a set-top box for each pre-digital TV they wish to use. These cost about £25. Anyone who wants to record one channel while watching another would be well advised to buy a digital recorder.
Anyone buying a TV from now on should check that it has the "Digital ready" mark which consists of the word digital followed by a tick in a box. This is different from the High Definition ready mark (HDD ready).
There is a package of targetted assistance available to help older and disabled residents with this change, but I am concerned that the net for this may have been drawn too narrowly. The package is available to residents over 75 or those registered blind or disabled: it is free for those on pensions credit or receiving disability support, but there is a "small charge" for other residents.
There is a problem with this - it is estimated that a third of the poorest pensioners do not apply for pensions credit, presumably because they have trouble with the pages of complicated forms. Those people are not going to be happy about having to pay for new equipment to be able to continue to watch their TV. The government needs to look again at eligibility for the assistance scheme.
There will be another public meeting in December to discuss the issues arising from the switchover. I suspect there will be - and should be - a lot more debate about this.
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