Freeview selected for switchover help

Freeview has been selected as the Switchover Help Scheme’s standard offer to eligible viewers in the ITV Westcountry region.
The scheme offers installation of one set top box and the conversion, where necessary, of aerials, to people who are aged 75 or over, registered blind or partially sighted or eligible for certain disability benefits, for £40. Those who receive income benefits are eligible to receive the package for free.

Any eligible person living in an area not served by post-switchover digital terrestrial coverage will be able to have Freesat installed instead.
The Westcountry region will begin its switch to digital next year. The Switchover Help Scheme is already active in Border, which switches this year; there, the selection of Sky as the standard offer provoked criticism from a local MP and the chairman of the government-appointed consumer expert group on digital switchover.