Ofcom yesterday began their digital consultation, in particular, examining how replacement licences will be awarded in the light of the digital age. This quickly spawned news stories about a 2007 launch in some areas of digital.
Today we learn that the first test area is likely to be the Borders TV region. Right. That’ll be easy then, with all those valleys in Lakeland, that currently have tiny local transmitters providing them with pictures. Providing free to air satellite isn’t really a viable option yet. Although Sky have announced it, they haven’t actually launched it, and who’s to say that at some point down the line they decide that it’s a limited offer and withdraw it.
And I certainly hadn’t realised that Dixons and Currys up in Carlisle are overstocked with TVs that have DTT already built in. So every TV and every video in every household is going to need a box. That’s a lot of SCART cables, and an awful lot of complicated wiring. Just cast your mind back to the work Channel Five (as was) had to do in retuning videos before they could start broadcasting. That was easy compared with this.