Digital TV Switchover
Resources
Digital TV Switchover – Introduction
The digital TV switchover was the process of turning off the UK’s analogue TV signal and replacing it with a digital signal.
This was Government policy and means that almost everyone is now able to receive digital TV through an aerial (Freeview).
Digital TV also uses less broadcast space which means that there is now more room for new services such as wireless broadband, local TV and High Definition Television (HDTV).
The digital TV switchover took place at different times around the UK and has now finished. To keep your TV service, you needed to convert your TVs to digital before your area’s switchover date.
Benefits of going digital
Digital TV offers new ways to enjoy your TV service:
- Greater choice of TV channels
- New features such as on-screen listings, interactivity, audio description and subtitling for people with visual and audio impairments.
- Optional additional channels and services including premium channels (e.g movies, sports), broadband and telephony.
Who was responsible for adjusting television sets?
If you, the landlord, provided a television as part of the tenancy then you would have been responsible for ensuring that it could pick up a digital signal after the switchover.
Tenants were responsible for upgrading their own personal TVs and recording equipment.
The tenancy agreement should indicate whether the landlord or tenant is responsible for paying the TV licence and any subscriptions to cable or satellite TV. The inventory should include the make, model and serial number of any TV sets that are provided.
What did you need to do?
If, prior to the switchover, you had more than the five standard channels or you received Freeview, freesat, satellite or cable then you already had digital TV.
If you did not have digital, almost all sets could be converted with a digital box.
Prices will vary depending on which service you choose but, there are two ways of receiving a digital signal:
- A one-off payment with services such as Freeview or Freesat from Sky
- A monthly subscription with services such as Sky TV or Virgin Media
Aerials on houses
If you or your tenants have chosen a digital service like Freeview or Top-up TV you would have checked whether the aerial needed replacing.
Shared aerials in flats and blocks
Where the TV signal is provided through a shared aerial system, the freeholder or property manager should have checked whether this needed upgrading. The industry recommends an Integrated Reception Service (IRS) which provides both Freeview, subscription and non-subscription satelite services giving leaseholders and tenants a choice of providers.
Switchover Help Scheme
Your tenants may have been eligible to apply to the Switchover Help Scheme if they were 75 or over, registered blind or partially sighted, or entitled to certain disability allowances. This scheme is now closed to new applicants as the switchover has finished.
When did the switchover happen?
TV Region
- Border – 2008, second half
- West Country – 2009, first half
- HTV Wales – 2009, second half
- Granada – 2009, second half
- HTV West – 2010, first half
- Grampian – 2010, first half
- Scottish Television – 2010, first half
- Yorkshire – 2011, first half
- Anglia – 2011, first half
- Central – 2011, first half
- Meridian – 2011, first half
- Carlton / LWT (London) – 2012, first half
- Tyne Tees – 2012, second half
- Ulster – 2012, second half
Where to go for more information?
The government had given the task of managing the switchover to a not-for-profit body called Digital UK. Call 0845 650 5050 or visit www.digitaluk.co.uk – link in the Additional Resources section.
