I keep hearing about this "digital dividend" but as far as I can see its a very one sided affair.

We get to junk our existing (and perfectly serviceable) equipment and replace it with nice shiney new stuff with vat @17.5% OR

We have to buy huge numbers of STBs to keep mutiple rooms "tuned in" again more lovely VAT for Alastair plus of course additional power required which is itself taxed.... OR

We are delivered into the loving embrace of Sky/Virgin.

Looks like "Lose Lose" for the ordinary folks here. All I can see is a lot of extra costs with little or no gain in financial terms, while the Grabby Gordys Government are coining in even more of our hard earned.

Couple this with OFCOMs gleeful auction of airwaves and the picture is complete, a nice earner from selling off the spectrum that they are stealing from us to bolster the tax dividend from the electrical stores./

Its a rip off.. please stop pretending it is anything else.

So the viewing public has been completely screwed over, and we'll never have a decent free to air HD TV service. It will be entirely coincidental that Murdock's press continues to support the government come the next election.

... plus the cost the various companies pay for their licenses as it will be recouped from us as customers of their likely poor quality content.