DSO completion date announced

The UK’s analogue TV system will be switched off on October 24, 2012, when Northern Ireland completes Digital Switchover.
The date will also mark the end of the five-year switchover campaign, which began in 2007 in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
David Scott, Digital UK’s chief executive, said: ‘The analogue era was a defining period for TV but the fully digital age will be even better, with a greater choice of channels for viewers everywhere.
‘I’m looking forward to October next year when we will have brought the benefits of digital to every corner of the country.’
The Northern Ireland switchover will bring digital TV to half a million new viewers and will cover ‘virtually all’ of the province.
It’s still only the beginning of the UK’s digital TV development, which has two major milestones to come in the next decade.

Digital UK will continue until 2013 to help manage the shift of some Freeview signals to new frequencies so that the 800MHz band can be cleared for high-speed mobile broadband.
Around 2015, the 600MHz band cleared by analogue switchoff will be brought back into use following an auction, which could see new Freeview channels, pay-TV or more broadband usage.