UK Prepares For Final Digital Switchovers

The UK-wide digital switch-over is nearing completion and an information campaign to help people switch over to digital TV is being launched.
The digital TV switchover is the process of turning off the UK's analogue TV signal and replacing it with a digital signal.
Digital UK and the Switchover Help Scheme will support viewers across the region as they prepare for the change that is charged with being the biggest move in TV for a generation.
Last month the UK’s largest digital switchover began across the London TV region.
Analogue BBC Two was turned off at Crystal Palace and other transmitters across the region, marking the start of a process that will see Freeview coverage boosted to reach all areas.
More than 400,000 viewers in former digital blackspots across Greater London and
much of the Home Counties can now receive Freeview channels for the first time.
Digital switchover will be completed in the London region on 18 April when the remaining
analogue channels will be switched off. Channel 5 and further Freeview channels from ITV and Channel 4 will then be available from local transmitters for the first time.
Meanwhile there is just six months left until the analogue terrestrial TV services for around 650,000 NI households will start being switched off.
Denis Wolinski, Digital UK Regional Manager for Northern Ireland, said: "We are starting the final countdown to a fully digital TV system for Northern Ireland. The benefits will be felt by hundreds of thousands of viewers who will be able to receive free to air digital TV via an aerial for the first time. Over the coming months we will be making plenty of information available and working with the Switchover Help Scheme to ensure viewers know where to turn for advice."
The changes have been rolled out across the UK with many areas already fully digital.
Northern Ireland, the north east, London and the south east are the final regions getting the big switch.
(LB)