Use our quick guide to the Digital Switchover to help you through the biggest change to UK television for decades. After the switchover any analogue TVs (they can only receive BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and five) will be useless unless they have been converted to receive digital signals.
Our guide walks you through:
If you've got Freeview, Virgin (or any other cable service), BT Vision or Sky, you've already converted, but you may have analogue sets in the spare room, and they won't work unless they have been converted too.
The process has already started and in 2008, the first region (Whitehaven in Cumbria) will be fully digital. It will take until 2012 to convert the entire UK.
With digital TV, sound and pictures from the broadcaster are converted into a digital code and sent through an aerial, satellite, telephone line or cable. This digital signal is then turned back into sound and pictures by a digital box (for example a Freeview or Sky box) or a digital television set.
Do not confuse "Digital TV" with High Definition (HD). To receive HD channels you must have an HD ready TV and subscribe to special HD channels.
If you only have analogue TV you need to plan what to replace it with. Use the Digital Switchkit at the Digital UK website to help you decide how to get your digital TV signal. Your options are: aerial, satellite dish, cable, phone line or combined aerial and phone line. Digital UK has plenty of help and advice.
This is down to your choice of service and equipment. You can spend as little or as much as you like depending on if you want to pay a montly fee or a one-off payment and on how many TV sets you intend to convert.
The payment options are:
There are two free services, Freeview and Freesat, and both of them involve a one off payment for equipment.
There is also a new service launching soon, confusingly called Freesat, which also involves a one-off payment and includes a High Definition service. See the section below.
BT Vision and Top Up TV both offer "mixed" options for digital TV, with a one-off set-up charge and then additional optional subscriptions.
Sky and Virgin are the main companies offering subscription services.
The switchover is being done in phases and the date you will switch depends on which ITV region you live in. If you are unsure which region you live in, watch an ITV news programme (it will be displayed in the opening credits) or visit Teletext page 106.
| Region | Switchover Date |
|---|---|
| Border | 2008 - 2009 |
| West Country, Granada | 2009 |
| Wales | 2009 - 2010 |
| West, STV North, STV Central | 2010 - 2011 |
| Central Yorkshire, Anglia | 2011 |
| Meridian, London, Tyne Tess, Ulster | 2012 |
The Channel Islands: Negotiations with France are not yet completed. The proposed date is the first part of 2013.
Visit Digital UK for more information on the switchover timetable.
