It’s finally begun. The much-vaunted UK switchover from analogue to digital television has started to happen. This morning at 2 am the citizens of Whitehaven lost their analogue signal to theBBC2 channel. The remaining four terrestrial channels will migrate to digital on November 14. Now it becomes an inevitable process for the remainder of the UK, to be completed by the close of2012. Whitehaven residents – and the rest of the UK – now have the choice of a set-top Freeview box, which will offer more channels for the one-off fee of buying it, orsubscriptions to satellite, broadband or cable television. Around 84% of UK residents currently have digital television. However, given that Freeview boxes cost $40 and up, that can causeproblems for some, so they will be free for people on pension credit or other benefits, and people over 75 or with disabilities will receive help with installation and support. The Digital UK body is in charge of the switch, and told the BBC that “probably nine out of ten” of Whitehaven’s 25,000 households were ready fortoday’s big change. Sales over Freeview boxes have greatly risen there in the last few months, while sales of digital televisions have by almost 300% in one store.
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