UK to start digital TV switchover, but Australia is still in the dark ages

Adam Turner
Friday, 16 March 2007 06:00

Opinion and Analysis

Millions of television screens are set to go dark right across the UK, with the BBC to start killing off its analogue transmissions in October.

First to go will be BBC 2 transmissions in Whitehaven, Cumbria, in England's north. On October 17, 25,000 households will take the digital plunge, with the remaining analogue channels to be switched off on November 14. If all goes to plan, the UK's entire analogue television system will be shut down by 2012. London and the South-East will be the last to convert.

The British press is already bemoaning the fact that less than half of the televisions in the UK are equipped with digital tuners. If the Brits think they've got something to complain about, they should look at the shocking state of digital television in Australia. It's taken more than six years for digital television to make it into a quarter of Australia's lounge rooms.

To makes matters worse, Australia is also talking about killing off analogue television by 2012, with the Communications Minister, Helen Coonan, even hinting at 2010. Considering the UK has set aside five years between switching of the first and last analogue signals, what makes Australia's Powers That Be think they can possibly pull it off in less?

The reign of analogue television is coming to an end and politicians around the world are afraid they'll go down with the ship. They fear the switchover to digital television because they know, whatever they do, millions of television screens will go blank. Television is the soma that stops consumers from waking up. The Romans used gladiators at the Colosseum to distract the people from what was really important, today it's pro wrestling beamed into your lounge room from Madison Square Garden. Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, doesn't want to be remembered as "TV John - the man who killed television".

Come February 19, 2009, millions of television screens will go blank right across the United States as broadcasters finally abandon analogue and go fully digital.

Warning labels have been proposed for analogue televisions, so unwary shoppers know they've only got two years before broadcasters kill off analogue. Now they've announced a subsidy to help people buy a cheap digital set top box before the switchover.

Politicians aren't renowned for their grasp of new technology either, and the right wing Republicans who put forward the warning label idea probably can't even program their VCRs (that's what servants are for). But they do know people. Cut off millions of registered voters from their drug of choice and they'll take it out at the polls. It's probably no coincidence that the death of analogue broadcasting comes only months after the 2008 US elections, giving politicians almost four years to sort out the mess.

Meanwhile Australia is still floundering as we race toward the death of analogue television. In November the $20 million Digital Australia initiative was announced to convince Australians to upgrade to digital. It includes "educational campaigns" to spruik the benefits of going digital. If anyone needs educating about new technologies it's the politicians. The dark age is coming for analogue television and if politicians don't handle it well, they'll be the ones left out of the picture.