The government is switching off the analogue signal because it wants more of us to have access to Freeview. Freeview is currently available to only three quarters of UK homes because there's not enough airspace to deliver strong analogue and digital signals simultaneously.
Digital UK, the body set up to raise consumer awareness of digital television, says that once the analogue signal is turned off, the digital signal will be boosted so that the 98.5 per cent of homes that currently receive analogue will receive Freeview.
This still means that 1.5 per cent of homes won't be able to get Freeview even after this boost. Digital UK says that most of these homes will have access to satellite or cable services. But there will be a very small number of areas that won't receive any digital signal at all.
Once the analogue signal is switched off, the government will raise an estimated £1.1 billion to £2.2 billion by selling the surplus airspace to 3G and mobile phone companies and to TV companies for additional channels.
But our research shows that not everyone is happy with the quality of programmes - some talking about 'endless repeats' - and 56 per cent saying they don't use all the channels. As one reader put it: 'It's funny; we have more choice of channels and there's still nothing to watch on TV.'
Signal quality is an issue for others. Some people will see an improvement in picture quality with digital. But if you have a good analogue picture, there's a risk that digital might look worse because it compresses pictures and electronically removes details it thinks you won't notice.
Many of you wrote to us complaining about interference to your Freeview signal, causing pictures to break up, sometimes making programmes 'unwatchable'. Mobile phones, heavy rain and even passing traffic affected digital reception, according to those who contacted us.
There are no plans at present to switch of analogue Radio
