By Will Sturgeon, 1 June 2006 15:30
NEWS
Britain is still divided by a digital gulf which separates the elderly and lower-income households from the rest of the nation, according to Ofcom.
Crucial to driving an awareness of digital communications among these groups is television and, although the message is starting to get through that digital television will soon be a necessity for those who want to watch once the analogue signal is switched off in the UK, it isn't reaching all quarters equally.
Nationwide, awareness of the digital switchover, pencilled in for 2010, has reached 52 per cent which represents a doubling since 2005. However, among the elderly and low-income households that figure is still just 40 per cent.
Research from Ofcom found that friends and family are the most important source of information and the regulatory body expressed concern that people over 65 may be far less likely to know somebody who will help with the digital switchover.
In total 77 per cent of over-65s said they do not keep up with new developments in communications technology.
A lack of understanding of new communications among the poor is also proving a problematic cycle to break, said Colette Bowe, chairman of Ofcom's independent consumer panel, the group which conducted the research.
Bowe said lower-income households spend proportionately more on communications than any other group and yet they are also the least likely to switch suppliers, with many favouring mobile phones over landlines.
Comments
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1. Richard
My fifth Freeview box is failing:
Freeview is still an experimental service: It seems to be taken seriously by neither Ofcom nor the broadcasters.
This is my fifth Freeview set top box: It's beginning to fail: Suddenly cutting-out and rebooting.
Satellite or cable alternatives: Why should we have to pay Murdoch or NTL and then have them snoop on our viewing habits?
The only justification seems to be Gordon Brown's Treasury's insatiable need for money.
Global Warming: Most digital TV set top boxes need to be left permanently switched-on or on standby. This wastes electricity and hence generates yet more CO2.
2. Simon
The government must take a large part of the blame because of the way the've really screwed up the digital TV changeover. The first and most obvious question they should be made to answer is "why are there still tv's being sold that will stop working in as little as two years ?"
OK, so you can add a set top box, but I can tell you that a lot of people simply cannot cope with having two boxes. My mother is completely stuck if she picks up the TV remote and switches channels with it - I've tried to explain how to get back to the digital box but she just doesn't get it (yes, we need to keep the TV remote around because the digital remote doesn't work the volume !)
If all TVs and Videos currently on sale had to support digital as an integrated feature, then within a few years there would be a much higher proportion of digital ready sets by changeover simply by natural replacement. As it is, the government have abdicated from their responsibilities and failed the people (again).
3. Pete Singleton
Spare a thought for the rural viewers with no access to digital services. Where I live is hilly, so we get our TV from a repeater. So we have no digital signal, no Channel 5 even. No cable TV either. So it is Sky or nothing - and there's no way I'm giving control of my viewing to KRM!
4. Richard
It is closer to London that the divide happens too. Freeview is hopeless in Hertfordshire too. Having just spent out lots for new aerial I'm not about to invest in Sky. Could it be that this is what kills TV? Surely we are not alone, but all we get is the 'how to get digital' adverts on the BBC, but nothing to fix the basic problems.