Digital switchover

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Digital switchover is the name given to the process in which analogue broadcast television in an area is converted to digital television. It is also sometimes referred to as analogue switchoff.

The scale of digital switchover can vary: at one extreme, a small, low-power transmitter can be converted to digital. This is what happened at Ferryside and Llansteffan in the UK, and is normally conducted as a trial, although it can be a permanent change.

At the other extreme, a whole country can be converted from analogue to digital television. Depending on the size of the country, this can take some time. The UK government has announced plans for switchover to occur across the country on a regional basis from 2008 to 2012. [1]

In Germany, digital switchover started in 2003 in Berlin, and has now been completed in Bremen and Hamburg. "Simulcast" digital transmissions have started in other parts of the country, in an effort to prepare for a full switchover.

In the United States, analog over-the-air signals will be turned off on February 17, 2009, making all television sets without a digital tuner unable to receive television broadcasts.

Japan is also running an intense nationwide campaign announcing the planned switchover to digital on July 24, 2011. Many television stations around the country are already broadcasting simultaneously in digital, or are planning to start digital broadcasts by 2007.

A report has predicted that in 2007 Finland will become the first country to fully switch off its analogue signals.[2]

The facility with which digital switchover can be achieved depends not only on the size of the area and number of transmitters to be converted, but also on the number of viewers who rely on the analogue signal as their primary or only means of TV reception. In Berlin, for example, most residents were using cable television, so only a small number of households needed the new equipment necessary for digital reception.

On the other hand, around 60% of UK households had access to multi-channel television as of Summer 2005 [3]. This left around 10 million households who would be forced to convert to another means of receiving television by the time digital switchover reaches their area.

[edit] Switchover in the UK

Main article: Digital switchover in the United Kingdom

The progress towards digital switchover in the UK has been long and sometimes tortuous. The then-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Chris Smith, announced in 1999 that the Government's intention was to achieve switchover "between 2006 and 2010". Work started in earnest with the setting up of the Digital Action Plan, a body working across industry, government and consumer groups to advise on the best way to meet the switchover target date.

By 2003, however, it was becoming clear that switchover could not start by 2006. In particular, the decision taken by the International Telecommunications Union to call a Regional Radiocommunications Conference to establish a frequency plan for digital broadcasting meant that in practice, substantive steps towards switchover would need to wait until after the conference's second session, due to be held in May & June 2006.

On 15 September 2005, addressing the Royal Television Society in Cambridge, Smith's successor at the DCMS, Tessa Jowell, announced the go-ahead for switchover in the UK, coupled with support measures to ensure the disadvantaged are not left behind. [4]

In essence, the UK will switchover on a regional basis, starting in the second half of 2008 in the English/Scottish Borders, and finishing in Channel Islands in 2013. Local television broadcasters, including the BBC and ITV, are encouraging viewers to upgrade to digital television. UK broadcasters are also under additional pressure to complete migration since London will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2012.

On the day after Jowell's speech, an independent. not-for-profit company, Digital UK, was established to coordinate the switchover process. Set up by the broadcasters and the commercial multiplex operators, Digital UK is required to co-ordinate the project and ensure that the public are kept informed about progress.