Govt backs digital TV switch

The UK Government finally seems to have made a decision about plans to ditch analogue TV and replace it with digital services.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell is expected to announce to an audience of TV execs tonight that the first regions will have the analogue plug pulled in 2008, with all parts of the UK switching to digital by 2012.

Scotland looks set to become the first region to make the switch to digital, according to reports.

Earlier this year two villages in Wales became the first places in the UK to lose their analogue TV signal following a six month trial to see how people coped with digital TV.

According to the latest figures from regulator Ofcom, digital TV take-up is flourishing in the UK with some 15.7m households hooked up to cable, satellite or Freeview.

Despite this growth, though, four in ten homes still haven't made the switch. ®