UK Govt pressed for digital date

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Tessa Jowell, the UK culture secretary has refused to name a date for the analogue switch off despite pressure from Ofcom. The official position continues to be "some point between 2006 and 2010 if a number of conditions were met, including 95 per cent of households having digital receivers." But at the Oxford media convention she was criticized for refusing to be more specific on how and when switchover would occur. Stephen Carter, Ofcom's chief executive, outlined the need for a more detailed plan for analogue switch-off, "it is a very significant policy decision and the government has to make it," he said. "The time has now come to say: what's the decision and what's the structure to take it forward? It would be jolly useful to have a target deadline to aim for," he said.
Although more than half of all homes now have digital TV, recent research for the Department of Trade and Industry showed that many of those remaining had little interest in converting to satellite, cable or the free-to-air alternative, Freeview.

Jowell refused to set a date for switchover but said that the continuing success of digital TV confirmed that the policy was the "right decision for the country. Of course I'm aware that the Generics Group report published by the DTI last week states that 13 per cent of people still say they don't want digital television and don't intend to get it, come what may. This shows there is still a challenge for us all in persuading people that digital TV is right for them."

The culture secretary said there would be a new initiative to tie together the work of converting the nation to digital television and simultaneously encouraging them to hook up to the internet.