Digital channels 'not available'

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The digital TV switchover has not lived up to its full promise in parts of the Borders, watchdogs have said.

Consumer Focus Scotland said many people did not realise they would not get the full range of digital channels when the analogue TV was switched off.

Its report, published as the switchover is about to begin in Dumfries and Galloway, said the technical switch in the Borders was largely a smooth one.

But it warned that viewers elsewhere should be given clearer information.

Switchover process

Almost half the homes in the Borders - the 47% served by relay transmitters - can get only 20 of the 40 available channels.

More than 100 people, including the elderly and vulnerable, kept diaries from July 2007 until the beginning of this year to give an insight into the switchover process

The report said switchover managers, Digital UK established a "solid local presence", worked hard, and achieved the target of everyone knowing the switchover was going to happen.

"But awareness is one thing and understanding of what's involved is quite another," said Trisha McAuley of Consumer Focus Scotland, a group formed from the merge of the Scottish Consumer Council, energywatch Scotland, and Postwatch Scotland.

"Our concern is that too much of the marketing material was too general and that a huge emphasis was placed on people going to their website which many older and less well-off people were not able to, or did not want to, access," she said.

At the very least, Digital UK needs to make it entirely clear how switchover will affect the rest of rural Scotland Trisha McAuley

She added: "The biggest divide in the Borders was in the fact that 47% of homes, served by relay transmitters, can only get half of the available channels - something that many diarists regarded as discriminating against them for living in more rural places.

"At the very least, Digital UK needs to make it entirely clear how switchover will affect the rest of rural Scotland in relation to the choice of new services that will be available."

She said some of the "digital dividend" raised from the selling of freed-up spectrum space should be reinvested.

The aim would be to ensure either that rural areas got the same TV services as everyone else, or that some of a switchover underspend made its way back to the Borders to provide access for all to the full range of TV channels either through transmitter upgrades or new and faster broadband, she said.

SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, Christine Grahame, said: "The UK Government must take immediate action to upgrade the relay transmitters, eliminate reception black spots and ensure parity of coverage for rural areas."