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A year or so ago I was on the phone to NTL (probably complaining about something) and the girl on the other end expressed astonishment that I was still on analogue, she didn't believe they still did it!
Posted: 13:47 Sep 15 2005
Switch to digital
The UK is finally waking up to the digital age and all TV will "soon" be digital only. Analogue signals will be switched off forever. 
Don't get too excited though as it won't be complete til 2012
The first region to do the switch will be the Lake District and the Scottish borders, but again, that's not until 2009.
The reason for the delay apparently is to wrn everyone about the change and give them time to prepare by purchasing the necessary equipment, but, according to the BBC, 63% of us here in the UK have already gone digital, so it's just the other 37% that are holding us back
The 37% that aren't digital tend to be the elderly and those on minimum income, due to the cost, so convincing these people to switch to digital will be the main challenge. The cheapest freeview box is currently £50, which is still a vast amount of money, and many will also need to buy a new aerial, as many aerials are not compatible.
Will this switch work? Has enough been done or going to be done to help those that can't afford the switch? What do peeps think?
(Edited by lil_miss 15/09/2005 14:59)
Don't get too excited though as it won't be complete til 2012
The first region to do the switch will be the Lake District and the Scottish borders, but again, that's not until 2009.The reason for the delay apparently is to wrn everyone about the change and give them time to prepare by purchasing the necessary equipment, but, according to the BBC, 63% of us here in the UK have already gone digital, so it's just the other 37% that are holding us back
The 37% that aren't digital tend to be the elderly and those on minimum income, due to the cost, so convincing these people to switch to digital will be the main challenge. The cheapest freeview box is currently £50, which is still a vast amount of money, and many will also need to buy a new aerial, as many aerials are not compatible.
Will this switch work? Has enough been done or going to be done to help those that can't afford the switch? What do peeps think?
(Edited by lil_miss 15/09/2005 14:59)
7 Replies and 5730 Views in Total.
Posted: 13:47 Sep 15 2005 
If you look at the huge investements needed to make all this happen (on the side of the consumer / tv stations / cable companies etc) 2012 might seem pretty far away but it really isn't.
What I have noticed, as a Dutchy, in the UK is the huge amount of settop boxes. Mainly because you don't have cable everywhere in the UK satelite is a major player in the UK tv market. In NL you can recognize an apartment building with loads of immigrants in it by the huge number of sat dishes.... That rule of thumb clearly doesn't work in the UK
Because we had about a 99% analogue cable coverage in NL for many years now, the settop box is something we are unaccustomed to. Hardly anyone has them. Only the few people that have digital cable / Sat or our version of freeview (which isn't free)
Analogue cable might not have the brilliant quality of digital cable (and you don't have all the pay per view features etc but who really wants that) but it's a lot cheaper to put in as you don't need the decoders, for every tv. Which also means that no matter how many tv's you have in your house you just pay the same amount.... With digital cable people here might need to start paying additional fees for their second and third TV, which personally I don't really see happening anytime soon Although we do have digital tv over adsl2+ (triple play) options available in NL with 20mbit internet / telephone / TV for 35 quid a month or so
But the UK the settop is already the norm so you don't have this little hurdle to take to digital tv.
What I have noticed, as a Dutchy, in the UK is the huge amount of settop boxes. Mainly because you don't have cable everywhere in the UK satelite is a major player in the UK tv market. In NL you can recognize an apartment building with loads of immigrants in it by the huge number of sat dishes.... That rule of thumb clearly doesn't work in the UK
Because we had about a 99% analogue cable coverage in NL for many years now, the settop box is something we are unaccustomed to. Hardly anyone has them. Only the few people that have digital cable / Sat or our version of freeview (which isn't free
)Analogue cable might not have the brilliant quality of digital cable (and you don't have all the pay per view features etc but who really wants that
) but it's a lot cheaper to put in as you don't need the decoders, for every tv. Which also means that no matter how many tv's you have in your house you just pay the same amount.... With digital cable people here might need to start paying additional fees for their second and third TV, which personally I don't really see happening anytime soon Although we do have digital tv over adsl2+ (triple play) options available in NL with 20mbit internet / telephone / TV for 35 quid a month or so But the UK the settop is already the norm
so you don't have this little hurdle to take to digital tv.
Posted: 14:17 Sep 15 2005 
I can’t see this going ahead until everyone can get cheap and easy access to non-subscription digital TV (i.e. Freeview or any equivalents that come out in the intervening period) without having to faff with new aerials.
Posted: 14:52 Sep 15 2005 Cheapest in Argos is £30
by lil_missThe cheapest freeview box is currently £50, which is still a vast amount of money, and many will also need to buy a new aerial, as many aerials are not compatible.
and then probably another £100 for a new arial and get it fitted. 
Posted: 15:11 Sep 15 2005 Ah, i got my info from BBC news, so they're wrong
by Vinnie
Cheapest in Argos is £30
Posted: 15:58 Sep 15 2005 Well in many occasions in-house arials would work like a charm, and they only cost around 20 quid for a decent one.
by Vinnie
and then probably another £100 for a new arial and get it fitted.
Posted: 22:02 Sep 19 2005