Analogue TV In The UK Is Off The Shelves – Permanently
Analogue is so out
The final analogue TV set has been sold in UK shops, nearly 85 years after inventor John Logie Baird put the first on display. All of the major electronics retailers have stopped selling the old boxes after grinding their stockpiles to a halt in preparation for the digital switchover. Digital UK, the group that are responsible for helping viewers to switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) by 2012, commented that last month, for the first time ever, there were no commercial sales of analogue TV sets in the UK.
Out of nearly 27million UK homes, 24million already have digital or cable TV, according to figures from ratings body Barb. Digital UK chief executive David Scott added: “People like digital television. It’s still early days for TV switchover but there is clear evidence that the benefits of digital TV are welcomed by the vast majority of those who have upgraded, most of whom found it a straightforward process.”
The phasing out of analogue television began in 2005 when the Government announced the country would switch to digital, region by region, by 2012.
About a fifth of the UK has already been converted, including the Border region and most of Scotland’s islands. Much of northern Scotland is being converted this summer and into the autumn. The analogue signal across the rest of Scotland will be switched off by June next year. The old signal at the Black Hill transmitter in Lanarkshire will be the last to go in Scotland. It is due to be turned off on June 8, 2011.
Meanwhille, in England, London, the south-east, and Tynes-Tees will be the last regions to make the switch in 2012.
In The US, the digital TV switchover was completed over a year ago in June 2009.
There have only been a couple of glitches in the process so far. Some have struggled to retune their set-top boxes and in parts of the north-west of England, viewers ended up watching shows in Welsh.
Digital UK said two-thirds of over-65s had gained the confidence to try out new technologies such as Sky+ and the internet after switching to digital TV. Most of them also claim that they would rather give up having a mobile phone than lose their digital telly.
Michelle Mitchell, director of Age UK, said: “TV is a really important part of many older people’s lives. For many, updating to digital has brought not only more choice but also increased confidence.”
This newfound confidence will need to come in handy soon though, as there will be no choice in the matter of Digital TV once the switchover is complete…
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