Brit TV Won't Go Digital Till 2012

judgecorp writes "While the US switches off analog(ue) TV in 2009, it stays on in the UK till 2012, according to a timetable, the Digital Dividend Review released by the UK regulator Ofcom. And while the US taxpayer will fork out $3 billion, there's no mention of government subsidising the switchover in the UK - apart from the licence fee which Brits pay for the BBC, or course. The good news is that the 112 prime MHz of spectrum freed up will be used for wireless broadband, rural coverage for wireless services, and unlicensed spectrum for data. All things that will keep us so busy, we won't bother to watch TV, anyway."

Comments

Inaccurate headline

[Bogtha]

I've got digital TV now. Millions have. The headline should read "Brits will keep analogue TV around until 2012". This isn't about getting digital telly, it's about how long we keep analogue around for the people who don't upgrade.

Re:There's probably no mention of subsidizing

[taskforce]

Actually no, the UK government doesn't own TV any more than the US Governemnt does. The BBC (by no means the only broadcaster in the UK) recieves a liscence fee from the public who have a TV. This fee is only charged if you have a television (In theory, although they often have a hard time believing you don't have one if you actually don't) and the money is never seen by the governemnt. It is not paid for with taxes.

In addition, the BBC wouldn't actually be the ones paying for the switchover, so the liscence fee is in fact a mute point here.

The subsidisation in the US is supposed to be on Digital enabled TV sets for consumers; which the governemnt certainly don't "own" in the UK.