Our Reference: 2337144
10 January 2005
Robert Key MP
Member of Parliament for Salisbury
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Television reception in Tisbury Thank you for your
letter of 25 November in which you forwarded the concerns
of your constituent, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx over the availability of digital
television services in his area. I am very sorry for the
delay in replying
to you.
I should first point
out that Ofcom plays no part in either determining the level
of the television licence fee or
who is required to pay it. It is my understanding that
viewers are
required to hold
a valid licence to operate a television receiver, although
this does not confer any guarantee that specific television
services will be
available in any particular area. However, I will try
to provide some background information about the issues affecting
the coverage achieved
by digital television in the UK.
Currently digital
terrestrial television (Freeview) signals are limited in
the power at which they
can be broadcast
and they are not broadcast from all the transmitters
that carry analogue TV. These
two restrictions limit coverage, and mean that a full
digital television service is available to around 75%
of the UK population.
It will unfortunately
not be possible for digital television services to
match the coverage of the conventional analogue television
networks until the time that
those analogue television signals begin to be switched
off. This is because the transmission frequencies that
would be required to provide
near-universal digital coverage are currently occupied
by the conventional analogue TV signals themselves,
and severe interference would be caused
if the coverage of digital signals were to be significantly
increased before switchover.
All of the larger
transmitters that serve viewers in Wiltshire do broadcast
the full range of digital
television
services. However, most viewers in Tisbury will be
receiving their
television
signals
from the small 'Sutton Row' transmitter which was
built to serve viewers that were not able to receive signals
directly from one of the larger
transmitters that cover Wiltshire. Unfortunately,
the vast majority of the UK's 1,100 smaller transmitters
do not broadcast digital signals,
and the frequency restrictions outlined above dictate
that
they will not be able to do so until digital switchover.
We anticipate that
the switchover process will be carried out on a region-by-region
basis, and our planning assumes that transmitters such
as Sutton Row will be able to broadcast digital services at
power levels that will allow them to match current analogue
coverage levels. We will
shortly be carrying out a public consultation on the coverage
that the commercial public service broadcasters should be
obliged to achieve
post-switchover. While there is yet no firm timetable for the
switchover process, we anticipate that it will take at least
four years to complete
switchover across the UK and that at least two years' notice
should be given to viewers before switchover occurs in their
area.
Satellite delivery
of digital television services offers immediate access to
digital television programmes to viewers that live
in areas not yet served by a digital transmitter and all
of the BBC's
digital
services are available free-to-air to viewers via satellite.
Although Ofcom is not able to endorse any particular commercial
undertaking, xxxxxxxxxxx may
be interested to know that Sky has also recently launched
a subscription-free satellite service that offers the BBC
and commercial channels for a
one-off equipment and installation fee, but with no ongoing
monthly charge. More information and conditions are available
from Sky at www.freesatfromsky.com,
or by calling 0870 606 1111.
Dominic Morris CBE
Director, Chief Executive's Office
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