Digital switchover passes key milestone

The Digital Switchover (DSO) today passed the key milestone of the rollout of the 1,000th relay cabin across the UK, as the £700m programme heads towards its conclusion next year.

Digital UK's mascot Digital Al and Peter Heslop, digital switchover director at transmission firm Arqiva, joined the engineering team on site at Portslade, near Brighton, to see the arrival of the 1,000th cabin relay station.

Relay cabins are a critical part of the DSO programme as they facilitate the delivery of digital TV signals to mainly rural and remote areas, complementing the coverage from the main TV transmitting stations serving town and cities.

So far, 11 out of the UK's 15 television regions have already switched from analogue to digital television, including most of Scotland, Wales, East Anglia and the huge Granada TV area covering the north west.

Since the first relay cabin was installed in the Scottish Borders in 2007, 80% of transmitter sites have been switched to digital, equating to 65% of the UK population.

The era of analogue television services in Britain will officially come to an end next October as Northern Ireland becomes the final place to go digital.

In a statement today, Heslop said: "Digital Al is here today to help celebrate the latest milestone in the delivery of digital switchover of terrestrial television.

"We've come a long way since we installed the first relay cabin in the Borders in 2007; 80% of transmitter sites are now switched, equating to 65% of the UK population.

"We are now closing in on the finishing line of this five-year, £700 million project as we race towards the completion of switchover in October next year. I'm delighted to report that we continue to deliver the project on time and on budget."

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