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<P><B><FONT SIZE=5 FACE="Times New Roman">Analogue switch-off issues 'not being addressed'</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva"><BR>
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</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">Owen Gibson, chief reporter<BR>
Monday October 11, 2004</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva"><BR>
<BR>
Influential consumer groups today called on the government to immediately make enough money available for those on low incomes or with disabilities to upgrade their TV sets and video recorders to digital.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">They warned the government that most people remain opposed to switching off the analogue TV signal, adding that it would miss its own 2012 deadline if it didn't help the elderly and those on low incomes to convert to digital.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">The Consumer Experts Group made its concerns felt in a report commissioned by broadcasting minister Andrew McIntosh to look into the implications of digital switchover for consumers.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">The pressure groups, including representatives from the Consumers' Association, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, the National Consumer Council, Age Concern and others, today said that there was still a "long list" of issues that weren't being addressed.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">"Despite more than half of households having adopted digital TV, the majority have only converted their main television set, and most consumers are opposed to analogue switch-off," said the report, commissioned by the Department of Culture Media and Sport.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">It said that there was still a "long list of outstanding consumer issues which need to be addressed", including "coverage, affordability, take up, accessibility, protection for vulnerable groups, consumer support and information".</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">The prospect of even tens of thousands of elderly or poor people being left without TV is a political nightmare, and this report heralds the prospect of a major campaign for government handouts. But consumer groups fear the number of people who could refuse to upgrade could run into millions.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">The government did help the hard core who refused to upgrade their TV sets from 405 to 625 lines but it took more than 15 years to phase the new broadcasting system in during the 1970s and early 1980s.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">Although over half of all households now have at least one digital set through satellite, cable or the BBC-backed free-to-air service Freeview, all the available research points to a hard core of up to a fifth of the population that is unable or unwilling to make the switch voluntarily.</FONT> </P>
<P><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">What do we do about 2nd sets?</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">The report also points to the so-called "second set problem" - the fact that most people have two or three sets in the house, which would all have to be converted to digital, and that most video recorders would also have to be converted to work with the new technology.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">"Although these issues are now well-known and well-understood, the government's existing policy does not ensure that they are addressed as part of the switchover timetable," said the report.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">The Consumers Expert Group said that the government should not announce a switchover date until more than 70% of consumers had already gone digital. "This would amount to a radical change in government policy from 'if the market delivers, we will switch' to 'if we switch, the market will deliver'," it argued.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">Although culture minister Tessa Jowell has yet to announce a firm timetable for switchover, the BBC has suggested a switch off date of 2012.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">And under draft plans drawn up by media regulator Ofcom, switchover would begin as soon as 2007 with the borders region earmarked as the first to lose its analogue signal altogether.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">But the consumer groups said that the government should introduce a new test, promising not to announce a timetable for switchover until seven out of 10 consumers had digital sets and vowing not to turn off the analogue signal until 95% of all consumers had switched.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">Another problem inherent in the strategy to switch off the analogue signal is the fact that the Freeview signal cannot be boosted to reach remote rural areas and portable sets until after the analogue signal is switched off.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">Broadcasters and the government hope that the imminent launch of a free-to-air satellite service from BSkyB and a similar BBC-backed "freesat" plan will help to fill in the gaps in Freeview coverage.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">The report said that the government must "persuade rather than compel" viewers to switch to digital. "This means taking the outstanding consumer issues seriously," it said, adding that broadcasters and the government should stop labelling those weren't yet ready to switch to digital as "refuseniks".</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">Broadcasting minister Mr McIntosh said that the government would listen carefully to the proposals and moved to reassure viewers that their needs would be put first.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">"In highlighting some of the issues we face in reaching this goal, the Consumer Expert Group is knocking on an open door. We know there are still challenges. We are working closely with industry, leading charities and consumer organisations to address them," he said.</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">"But viewers can be assured that their interests, particularly those of the most vulnerable, will be at the heart of every decision we make."</FONT> </P>
<P><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Geneva">(ENDS)</FONT></B>
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