Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past six years you could hardly fail not to have noticed the new, and rapidly growing, technology fast taking hold in the UK, Digital TV or DTV. Whether it’s via cable, satellite or terrestrial, pay-per-view or Freeview – a new technological dawn has well and truly broken and it’s here to stay. However for all the triumphs, and there have been many, there is much debate about how and why it is best to persuade the UK public to abandon their analogue equipment in favour of a complete digital switchover. It is an issue of great interest and concern to all involved, whether it be Government; Ofcom; broadcasters; transmission companies; manufacturers and retailers or, of course, consumers.
After its launch in 1998 the UK rapidly became a global leader in Digital TV take-up and Tessa Jowell Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, was quick to recognise digital potential. As early as 1999 Jowell stated the government’s aim to switch off traditional analogue TV signals – starting in 2006, to be rolled out regionally and completed by 2010. At that time, in an effort to keep public support and in acknowledgement of the inevitable disruption and cost to the consumer, the government made a pledge which is now at the heart of its dilemma. It set two criteria which had to be met before switchover could be attempted. Firstly, all households who had access to the public service broadcasting channels (BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4) needed to be able to receive them digitally. Secondly, digital technology had to be affordable to the ‘vast majority’ of people, the target indicator of this affordability being 95 per cent of consumers with access to digital equipment. However, with 2006 looming and pressure mounting from stakeholders anxious to plan for the future, the Government’s original ‘criteria-based’ objectives are coming under increasing fire.
Late in 2003 the number of households with Digital TV passed the psychologically all-important 50 per cent mark. However for those not wanting pay TV, Digital Terrestrial TV is the only digital service providing free-to-view channels and is currently not available to 25 per cent of the UK. This is blamed on the power of the digital signal being too low to reach the effected areas. Apparently for the power to be fully boosted, the analogue system needs to be completely shut down. This situation puts the government in a difficult position. Effectively they can’t fulfil their earlier promise to the public about PSB channels remaining available to all who had them, without first breaking the pledge by switching off analogue to boost the digital signal. The free-to-view satellite option – which doesn’t have the same problems with coverage – is a potential solution to this dilemma. However, at present viewers are unable to get all the public service broadcasters on this platform for free. Therefore, the all-important ‘Digital TV penetration’ versus a ‘firm date for switchover’ argument has become a chicken and egg question.
At present the Government is sticking to their word and Lord McIntosh’s speech to the Westminster Media Forum in June 2003 illustrates this. ‘We have made it clear from the start that the interest, needs and concerns of consumers are at the heart of our plans to switch to digital television. We have set criteria relating to affordability and accessibility and welfare of consumers are at the centre of our plans to switch to digital television. We cannot simply shift from a criteria-based approach to the announcement of a firm date, without knowing whether the interests of the consumers are fully safeguarded.’ Earlier this year Tessa Jowell cast doubt on the government’s ability to achieve switchover by 2010. She acknowledged her worries about the gaping holes in digital coverage across the UK and said, ‘I receive a constant stream of letters from people in areas where DTT is not available, frustrated that they cannot get Freeview. Some 20-25 per cent of the population will not be able to receive digital terrestrial until after switchover.’ However, she again refused to give a firm date for switch-off and Andy Robert’s, executive trading director at Starcom Motive has an opinion about why not, ‘The point is that the Government cannot afford to bring in the analogue switch-off until digital can reach 100% of the country. It would be political suicide. For one thing, the Government is one of the largest advertisers in the country itself and it needs this kind of full coverage, so it can’t even afford to disenfranchise even five per cent of the country. Full capacity will come with great difficulty, but the Government will have to find some way of achieving it.’ It is an interesting angle.
However in two recent reports by Ofcom and the BBC, both produced at Government request, the message is clear. Until a date is set, the stakeholders will not have the incentives and confidence necessary to drive creative, purchasing and investment decisions toward a successful switchover. In Ofcom’s report Driving Digital Switchover they say that 2004 is the year for transition and that, ‘The market alone will not deliver switchover. It is time for the UK digital TV project to change gear and move from planning to implementation. Greater certainty over the timing of switchover would be an important step.’ The BBC’s report Progress Towards Achieving Digital Switchover agrees, noting that although market-led digital adoption has up until this point been nothing short of ‘astonishing’, without concerted government and industry support to overcome remaining obstacles – people who see little value in going digital, or who have gone digital and have unconverted secondary TVs and videos – digital penetration will flatten out in the next couple of years.
There is little doubt about the many and varied advantages of digital technology. There’s interactivity (banking, email, home shopping) better subtitling, quality and sound and, almost most importantly, there is reduced spectrum use through digital compression technology. This is crucial because not only does it enable six digital channels to be transmitted in the space of one analogue channel, creating more channel choices (not everyone’s idea of a good thing), but it also results in valuable released spectrum, which can then be reused. The timing for changeover is also good. The existing analogue transmission network needs major capital investment over the next decade and with the recent 50 per cent digital take up, there is added weight to the argument for redirecting analogue investment towards digital systems. Presently under review, the BBC have successfully joined the digital battle with more than 2.5 million people contacting the BBC for more information during their 2003 Digital TV autumn. However, switchover is not a task to be underestimated and each stakeholder has a different agenda and timetable, and all are worried about the likely financial burden of this transition.
The decisions about how to proceed fairly and in a commercially attractive way to all involved need to be made soon. They are myriad and complicated and will redefine broadcasting of the future. However, until the government decides to grasp the switchover nettle the whole process remains in limbo, caught between the stages of imagining and doing. It is no longer enough for Tessa Jowell to ‘underline[s] the Government’s commitment to digital switchover’, it is time to make a firm stand on the future of UK broadcasting.
For further information please see www.culture.gov.uk and www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk and www.ofcom.org.uk.
