HOUSE OF LORDS Select Committee on Communications 2nd Report of Session 2009–10 Digital switchover of television and radio in the United Kingdom Report with Evidence Ordered to be printed 18 March 2010 and published 29 March 2010 Published by the Authority of the House of Lords London : The Stationery Office Limited £price HL Paper 100 The Select Committee on Communications The Select Committee on Communications was appointed by the House of Lords with the orders of reference “to consider communications”. Current Membership Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Baroness Eccles of Moulton Lord Fowler (Chairman) Lord Gordon of Strathblane Baroness Howe of Idlicote Lord Inglewood Lord King of Bridgwater Lord Macdonald of Tradeston Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Bishop of Manchester Lord Maxton Lord St John of Bletso Baroness Scott of Needham Market Publications The report and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee are available on the intranet at: http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/communications.cfm General Information General information about the House of Lords and its Committees, including guidance to witnesses, details of current inquiries and forthcoming meetings is on the internet at: http://www.parliament.uk/about_lords/about_lords.cfm Contact details All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Select Committee on Communications, Committee Office, House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 8662. The Committee’s email address is [email protected] CONTENTS Paragraph Page Chapter 1: Introduction 1 7 Chapter 2: What is digital switchover in television and radio? 8 9 What is the difference between analogue and digital broadcasting? 9 9 Analogue to digital broadcasting for television 12 9 Figure 1: Platform take-up in the UK Q3 2009 10 Analogue to digital broadcasting for radio 15 11 The decision to switch off analogue television 19 11 The Government’s planning process for switchover from analogue to digital television 23 12 Figure 2: Television switchover programme by region: 2008–2012 13 The Government’s plans for digital radio 25 13 Chapter 3: The switchover of television in the UK 30 15 Section one—the implementation of the switchover programme 31 15 Who is involved in running and managing the digital switchover programme? 31 15 Delivery of the digital switchover programme 32 15 Section two: How television switchover has gone so far 33 16 General progress on digital switchover for television to date 33 16 Progress on delivery of the three key policy objectives of the switchover programme 38 17 Changes to the broadcasting infrastructure 38 17 Build-out of the digital transmitter network 39 17 Digital television equipment 41 18 Re-tuning 42 18 Difficulty of installation and use of equipment 47 19 Digital transmission problems 50 19 Receiving channels from a different region 51 19 Varying number of channels 53 20 Poor reception 55 20 Informing the public about switchover 58 20 The Communications Campaign 59 21 Consumer understanding and awareness of switchover 61 21 Sources of information 63 21 Retailer preparedness for switchover and the sale of digital equipment 64 21 Effectiveness of Digital Outreach 68 22 The Help Scheme 72 23 Underspend due to much lower take-up than anticipated 73 23 Who bears the cost? 77 23 Overall progress of the Help Scheme 79 24 The Help Scheme’s publicity 81 24 Inclusion of aftercare as part of the scheme 82 24 Chapter 4: Where have we reached on digital radio? 83 25 The state of the UK radio sector 84 25 Figure 3: Projected total digital share of listening 26 The radio economy 89 26 Table 1: Number of radio station licences awarded and radio audience share 27 Community radio 95 28 The case for switchover to digital radio 97 28 Concerns of the sceptics 98 30 Assessing the arguments 99 33 Digital radio elsewhere 101 34 Radio switchover: should we go ahead? 102 34 Chapter 5: Digital radio: What needs to be done? 104 36 Digital coverage 105 36 National coverage 105 36 Regional and local coverage 109 37 The future of analogue radio 112 37 Car radios 118 39 Disposal of analogue radios 124 40 Clarity on digital radio standard 127 41 Increasing public awareness 130 42 Steps to increase public confidence 132 42 A help scheme for domestic radio switchover 134 43 Promotion of digital radio 135 43 Will passage of the Digital Economy Bill provide greater clarity? 138 43 A date for radio switchover 141 44 Chapter 6: Summary of Recommendations 143 45 Appendix 1: Select Committee on Communications 48 Appendix 2: List of Witnesses 53 Appendix 3: Call for Evidence 58 Appendix 4: Summary of the main features of the Help Scheme 59 Appendix 5: Glossary 60 Oral Evidence Digital UK and Digital Switchover Help Scheme Written evidence, Digital UK 1 Oral evidence, 20 January 2010 4 Supplementary written evidence, Digital UK 13 Supplementary written evidence, Digital Switchover Help Scheme 14 Digital Radio UK and Digital Radio Working Group Written evidence, Digital Radio UK 15 Oral evidence, 20 January 2010 22 Supplementary written evidence, Digital Radio UK 32 Ofcom Written evidence 34 Oral evidence, 27 January 2010 48 RadioCentre, Lincs FM Group and Global Radio Written evidence, RadioCentre 61 Oral evidence, 27 January 20101 63 Mr Grant Goddard, Mr John Myers, UKRD and UTV Radio Written evidence, Mr Grant Goddard 74 Written evidence, 13 local commercial radio operators including UKRD Group and UTV Media 77 Oral evidence, 3 February 2010 83 Supplementary written evidence, Mr Grant Goddard 93 Supplementary written evidence, UTV Media 95 BBC Written evidence 97 Oral evidence, 3 February 2010 104 Supplementary written evidence 114 Age Concern and Help the Aged, Consumer Focus, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and Wireless for the Bedridden (W4B) Written evidence, Age Concern and Help the Aged 116 Written evidence, Consumer Focus 117 Written evidence, W4B 121 Written Evidence, RNIB 124 Oral evidence, 10 February 2010 127 Supplementary written evidence, Consumer Focus 137 Supplementary written evidence, RNIB 143 Supplementary written evidence, W4B 146 Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Written evidence 147 Oral evidence, 10 February 2010 152 Supplementary written evidence 161 Community Media Association, Intellect, RETRA and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) Written evidence, Intellect 163 Written evidence, SMMT 166 Oral evidence, 24 February 2010 169 Supplementary written evidence, Intellect 184 Supplementary written evidence, SMMT 185 Written Evidence Arqiva 186 Brighton & Hove Radio 187 1 RadioCentre supplementary written evidence available on p 209. Channel 4 188 Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd (Five) 190 Consumer Focus Scotland 190 Frome Community Productions CIC 194 Preston Community Arts Project 197 Mr Michael Starks 199 Voice of the Listener and Viewer 201 Which? 206 Wireless for the Blind Fund 208 RadioCentre 209 NOTE: References in the text are as follows: (Q) refers to a question in oral evidence (p) refers to a page of written evidence Digital switchover of television and radio in the United Kingdom CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. The Committee decided to undertake an inquiry into digital switchover as it affects both television and radio in the United Kingdom. The programme to switch over television broadcasting from analogue to digital is now well under way having started in 2008. The Government’s aim for radio—as set out in its White Paper Digital Britain—“is the delivery of a digital radio upgrade programme by the end of 2015”. It soon became clear in our inquiry that the major questions concerned radio. 2. By the end of March 2010 about a fifth of television viewers will have switched over and the programme appears to have run relatively smoothly. The major qualification concerns the Help Scheme where there was a very significant overestimate of the number who would take up assistance. The estimate was that 65 per cent of those eligible would claim. The figures show that the proportion of those eligible who have claimed is only 18 per cent. It means that BBC licence fee payers—the scheme was funded through the licence fee—are likely to have paid between £250m and £300m above what was necessary. In addition the licence fee, which is a regressive tax, has also provided £50m above what is necessary for the communications strategy. 3. One of the advantages of the television switchover programme was that the benefits of digital delivery were well accepted and understood. In contrast the case for change in radio is not as compelling. The surveys show that there is strong public satisfaction with the present FM system and with the range of programmes that are provided. The case for radio switchover has not been made to the public although the date of switchover is only a few years away. 4. Currently there is public confusion and industry uncertainty. The public are not yet convinced of the need for change and there are major issues of policy still to be settled. Evidence supplied to the committee suggests that between 50m and 100m radios could become redundant and will need to be replaced; while some 20m car radios will require converters in order to receive a digital signal. As it stands at present the entire cost of these changes will be borne by consumers. 5. At present we are in the unhappy position where consumers are still buying analogue radios although they may be out of date in a few years’ time—or, at best, of limited use. Retailers are not giving sufficient guidance to customers and complain of a lack of guidance themselves. Car manufacturers are continuing to fit analogue radios and say that 2013 is the earliest date when digital will be standard.