Digital TV Switchover Cash For Broadband

While the big news from Tuesday's 'Emergency Budget' was that Value Added Tax (VAT) is to be raised to a full fifth of the cost base - digital TV has also been in focus.
The communications highway is to suffer with the Chancellor George Osborne saying that delivering faster broadband would now be the responsibility of the private sector - but said that it will be aided with some help from 'leftover money', which had originally been earmarked to fund the switchover to digital TV, as well as from the BBC licence fee.
He also confirmed the abolition of the previous government's 50p-per-month broadband levy, which had been dropped by the Labour government in the closing days of the last parliament.
One other minor technology impact is the removal of a tax break for the video games industry, which had been promised by the Labour government.
However, the main headline was the widely anticipated move to 20% VAT as part of an austere Budget, which is also cutting expenditure heavily to reduce the UK's deficit.
Cuts in public spending, which had been previously mooted have been confirmed and other long-term cuts averaging 25% for government departments are to be implemented.
Public sector workers will have their pay frozen for two years - apart from those who are paid less than £21,000 with reductions in benefits and other expenditure will total around £32bn, with around £8bn raised in higher taxes.
(BMcC/GK)