Analogue TV signals will cease in October 2012
14 Oct 2011
Digital UK has confirmed that all analogue TV transmissions will end on October 24th 2012.
Northern Ireland will be the last place to have the 80-year-old analogue TV technology switched off.
It will also mean the end for teletext-based services, such as BBC Ceefax, as the spectrum is freed up for high-speed wireless and smartphone networks.
TV broadcasting began in August 1932 with a series of analogue test transmissions. The BBC began broadcasting a proper TV schedule in 1936.
The first place in the UK to have its analogue TV signal switched off was Whitehaven in Cumbria in 2007.
There are just four remaining regions to switch over to digital TV next year: London, Meridian, Tyne Tees and Northern Ireland.
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Comments
Hope they improve coverage here in N. Ireland before the big switch on/off
Oh well, everyone needs a hobby, I guess...
Nice to see London get something new after most other areas have got it.
Not quite so nice that I live in the 'Meridian' region so also have to wait as long as London.
It will also mark the end of being able to de-tune between analogue stations and know that a small percentage of the random noise is cosmic background radiation from the aftermath of the Big Bang.
On Digital TV, our only chance of seeing anything older than that is by watching Dave.