News Release

24th August 2009

Switchover Help Scheme announces standard offer for West

After a formal process, the Switchover Help Scheme has chosen Freeview as the standard offer of practical help for eligible older and disabled people in the West TV region.

The Switchover Help Scheme was set up by the Government and is run by the BBC. Its purpose is to offer practical help for older and disabled people by converting one of their televisions to digital in the run-up to digital TV switchover in their region. People will be offered the help if they are aged 75 or over, registered blind or partially sighted, eligible for certain disability benefits or have lived in a care home for six months or more.

Almost seven million people around the country will be eligible for help under the Help Scheme. The West TV region will begin to switch to digital in March next year.

Eligible people in the West TV region will be offered a Freeview set top box at a subsidised cost of £40, or free if they also get income benefits. Most households will be able to receive more than 40 Freeview channels via an aerial; approximately 20 of the most watched Freeview channels will be available throughout the region. The help also includes installation if requested, a demonstration of how to use the equipment, an aerial check and upgrade if necessary for those that own their own aerials, and a free help line to ring for advice while they get used to it.

If there are eligible people who cannot get digital television through an aerial, they will be offered satellite equipment from freesat from the BBC and ITV on the same terms.

eaga, the Help Scheme’s service provider, will manage the delivery of the both the Freeview and freesat standard offers. eaga is committed to delivering the high standard of specialist service required by the Help Scheme.
 
People eligible for the Switchover Help Scheme in the West TV region can also choose from other digital options at extra cost. They include digital recorders, televisions with digital built in, and satellite options from freesat from BBC and ITV and from Sky, including high definition options.  Some are delivered by other providers.

All Help Scheme options are clearly set out in an information pack which will be sent directly to the home of every eligible person in the region.

The Help Scheme determines the standard offer, or most cost effective option, in each successive switchover region following a process set out in the Scheme Agreement between the Government and the BBC.  The process is designed to ensure platform neutrality and value for money. The provider of a standard offer must firstly meet the rigorous service standards required to meet the needs of Help Scheme eligible people, and secondly on cost to the Help Scheme, which is funded by the BBC licence fee. The current options have been chosen just for the West TV region and the process will be repeated for switchover in each the different ITV regions.

More information about the Help Scheme is available at helpscheme.co.uk  

Press contact

Juliet McShannon
PR Communications Manager, Switchover Help Scheme
Tel: 020 8008 2680

Notes to editors:

Standard offer

The process for establishing the standard offer, or “most cost effective option”, is set out in the Scheme Agreement between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/framework/digital_switchover.html

Standard offer equipment must meet the Help Scheme’s usability requirements and the service provider commits to the Help Scheme’s Code of Service Standards.

Digital television switchover is the process of converting the UK’s terrestrial television system to digital. Between now and 2012, analogue channels will be switched off region by region and replaced with free-to-air digital TV and radio services (Freeview).  Switchover will extend Freeview coverage to the whole of the UK and free up airwaves for new services such as ultra-fast wireless broadband and mobile television. 
 
The West consists of two transmitter groups: Mendip, which serves Bristol, parts of Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire; and Ridge Hill, which serves the Cheltenham and Gloucester area. 

Switchover at the Mendip transmitter group will happen in a two-stage process on 24 March 2010 and 7 April 2010.  Switchover at the Ridge Hill transmitter group will take place in 2011.

The full switchover timetable is as follows: 

Digital UK

Digital UK is the independent, not-for-profit organisation established in 2005 to implement digital switchover. It is jointly owned and funded by the public-service broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, S4C and Teletext) and the digital multiplex operators.

eaga

eaga, the provider of residential energy efficiency and outsourcing services, has been selected by the BBC as the Help Scheme service provider to deliver the help available under the scheme from the ITV Border region onwards.