DS presents a brief history of digital terrestrial television in the UK as the nation's switchover to digital broadcasting gets underway.

Autumn 1997
The Independent Television Commission (ITC), on behalf of Tony Blair's new Government, dishes out rights to six digital terrestial multiplexes (or "muxes"), each of which can be used for several channels.

The BBC gets a whole mux, ITV and Channel 4 share one and squeeze in Teletext Ltd and Five and S4C share a third.

The rest - named Muliplexes B, C and D - are auctioned off to a consortium of Granada, Carlton and BSkyB. Later BSkyB pulls out, as the other two (who later merge as ITV plc) plan the first subscription terrestrial service...

November 15, 1998
"Choice has arrived for the digital TV customer", promise Granada and Carlton as they turn on their new service, ONdigital.

Ulrika Jonsson lights up the Crystal Palace transmitter to launch the service and keen viewers can subscribe to get nine free channels and their pick of premium offerings.

March 22, 2001
Culture secretary Chris Smith suggests analogue terrestrial signals will be switched off within ten years. He rejects a Consumers' Association survey showing 32 per cent of people do not want digital television.

Winter 2000/2001
Concern grows about ONdigital's performance. It manages to get 1 million subscribers but still lags behind BSkyB's digital satellite operation by about 4 million.

Chief executive Stuart Prebble remains optimistic: "For a new technology and an entirely new brand to have reached that milestone is very significant. It's a soaraway success."

He believes ONdigital can hold out to be saved by today's switch-off: "At that point it is so easy for us to get a customer, it doesn't take a big leap of faith to believe we could match and outpace Sky."

July 2, 2001
ITV announces that ONdigital will be rebranded ITV Digital while the terrestrial channel will become ITV1. The broadcaster says it must "reflect the extended family of brands" but the move is interpreted as an attempt to save ailing ONdigital.

July 4, 2001
Greg Dyke, then Director-General of the BBC, and Sir Christopher Bland, its chairman, call on the Government to help the digital terrestrial service stay afloat.

Dyke says: "What is clear is that, without digital terrestrial TV, we will not get analogue switch-off." The corporation pours cold water on claims it could start its own such service.

October 12, 2001
Douglas Alexander and Kim Howells, e-commerce and broadcasting ministers respectively, reveal a draft Digital TV Action Plan. It promises to extend signal strength and coverage, have a pre-Christmas publicity drive and appoint a Digital TV team leader. The plan aims to "make switchover possible in 2006-2010".

Autumn 2001
ITV Digital, just months after rebranding, is still struggling. Despite signing Johnny Vegas and Monkey to front the network, Carlton chief executive Gerry Murphy is forced to deny it will soon close as investors get restless.

April-May 2002
ITV Digital crumbles. Administrators fail to save the company, which owes £178.5m to the Football League, and with no buyer it ceases broadcasting. Digital Spy covers the unfolding May Day drama.

May 5, 2002
Culture secretary Tessa Jowell says the Government believes analogue switch-off can still go-ahead "between 2006 and 2010" despite ITV Digital's woe.

August 16, 2002
The ITC grants ITV Digital's abandoned multiplex licences to a consortium of BBC and transmitter company Crown Castle (now National Grid Wireless).

Their plan, under the brand Freeview, proposes a non-subscription model designed to overcome ONdigital/ITV's pitfalls and increase digital up-take.

It will also improve signals by changing to a 16QAM 3/4 mode, an attempt to increase signal power and extend coverage.

The decision followed a bidding process which saw others, including Channel 4 and ITV, lose out.

Digital Spy readers welcomed the decision.

October 7, 2002
Freeview starts testing. It officially begins with a low-key launch on October 30.

Spring-summer 2003
Several new channels launch on a flourishing Freeview service. They include offerings from Channel 4 and Disney's ABC1.

2004-2005
Figures show Freeview's user numbers are rocketing and puts forward a possible timetable for analogue terrestrial switch-off. It suggests phasing the change between 2008 and 2012.

August 27, 2005
Dawn Airey, managing director of Sky Networks, is forced to defend the satellite platform. Speaking at the Edinburgh Festival, she insisted Freeview was a "stepping stone" to pay TV. Figures and surveys show the free service is threatening Sky.

In September Sky chief executive James Murdoch criticises analogue switch-off plans.

October 12, 2005
ITV and Channel 4 join the Freeview consortium as equal shareholders - signalling its supremacy and their commitment to the service.

March 17, 2006
Ofcom hails the UK as the world leader in digital television take-up. Penetration is estimated at more than 70 per cent while no other western European country has topped 50 per cent. The USA has 55 per cent take-up.

March 15, 2007
Digital UK, the body overseeing the analogue switch-off, confirms it will begin in the area of Whitehaven, Cumbria, on October 17. Ford Ennals, chief executive, says: "The countdown to a digital future has begun."

August 23, 2007
Freeview begins a major campaign in local press around Whitehaven to encourage digital uptake. The ads will feature Carla Arighi, owner of local chippy Arighi's and Rob Romano, the town cryer.

2am, October 17, 2007
The analogue signal carrying BBC Two to the Whitehaven and Copeland TV Area is switched off.