10 October 2007
Two north-west towns, Whitehaven and Copeland, are making preparations ahead of becoming the first places in the UK to have their analogue TV signals switched off next week.
Set to be completed over the next five years, Britain will have its old signals shut off region by region - although figures from Ofcom show that just 27% of the population is aware of the impending digital revolution.
Thankfully, residents of the Border TV region - one of the first to switch over - have a somewhat higher level of awareness, at 63%.
However, work remains to be done in raising the level of public knowledge: just one in five Britons fully understand the various ways of receiving a digital signal and one in four believe - wrongly - that they need to buy a new TV set to go digital.
Commenting on the findings, Head of Communications Services at uSwitch Steve Weller said: "The switch to digital TV on the 17th October 2007 is the most significant day in British broadcast history since the launch of colour TV forty years ago.
"It's possible that there may still be people who have their heads in the sand - those who don't already have digital TV and don't act now, won't be able to continue watching television broadcasts after the switchover."