BBC Choose Eaga Plc As Preferred Supplier For Digital Switchover Help Scheme

The BBC has selected eaga plc (eaga) as the preferred supplier to deliver the Digital Switchover Help Scheme, subject to contract.
Up to seven million people will be eligible for support from the Digital Switchover Help Scheme to convert one television set to digital during switchover between now and 2013.
People eligible for the Help Scheme are those 75 and over, able to get certain disability benefits, or registered blind or partially sighted.
The support they can get from the Help Scheme includes:

• Help to choose the right equipment option


• Easy-to-use equipment that suits their needs


• Installing it at their home


• Fitting a new aerial where needed and possible


• Someone to call for help when people are getting used to the equipment

eaga will contact each eligible person directly and will deliver or install, in line with their particular needs. They will provide the scheme contact centre, equipment and home installation.
eaga has been selected from a shortlist of three following a competitive dialogue and rigorous procurement process.
The Help Scheme is projected to cost £603 million, of which about £500m was allocated to the estimated service supplier costs. The actual terms of the contract are commercially confidential. The service provider contract is for five years until switchover is completed in early 2013.
Peter White, Chief Executive, Digital Switchover Help Scheme, said: "We are very pleased to announce eaga as the preferred supplier of the Digital Switchover Help Scheme. We look forward to working in partnership with them in the ITV Border region during 2008 and thereafter across the country.
"Our purpose is to make sure that all those eligible people that need help making the switch to digital TV receive the support they need from us, so they continue to receive television after switchover. We will continue to work to reach the people most at risk of being left without a television and ensure they are given the assistance they need."
John Clough MBE, eaga Chief Executive, said: "The digital switchover process is a hugely important development for broadcasting in this country. Ensuring that the most vulnerable homes in society are able to play a full part in the process is vital, and we are extremely proud to have been chosen as the preferred bidder to run the Digital Switchover Help Scheme.
"This Scheme goes to the heart of our work as a force for social inclusion, and the skills and expertise we have developed as a market leader in delivering to vulnerable customers on a national scale."
The next region to switch to digital will be the ITV Border region, with the Selkirk transmitter first to switch in November 2008. Copeland in Cumbria has already successfully switched to digital in November last year, and about 2,800 people there have already received the Help Scheme's support in a one-off lead project.
(DS)