News Release

28th April 2010

The Switchover Help Scheme roadshow visits Shetland

This week, experts from the BBC-run Switchover Help Scheme will be visiting Shetland to offer older and disabled residents advice about the practical help they can receive to switch to digital TV.

The Switchover Help Scheme Bus will be in Shetland on various days between Friday 30th April and Wednesday 19th May, to remind older and disabled people who find themselves struggling with switchover that help is still available.

Experts from the Switchover Help Scheme will be on hand to tell residents about how the Help Scheme can make switching to digital TV easier for them. The full schedule including the nine dates when the Switchover Help Scheme Bus is in Shetland and location details of where it can be found follow below.

Hundreds of people in Shetland have benefitted from the Help Scheme and most eligible people will manage the first stage of switchover on the 5 May with no problems. But for those who have not yet made the switch or are finding it more difficult than they expected, help is still on offer.

Luke McCullough, National Manager for the Switchover Help Scheme in Scotland, said: ”The Help Scheme writes directly to everyone who is eligible to offer them help. We are urging everyone who we have not yet helped but who has received an Information Pack to drop in and speak to our team face-to-face to find out more about the help available. There’ll also be an opportunity to try out digital equipment first hand, receive help filling out a Switchover Help Scheme application form and ask questions.”

People are eligible if:

• They are aged 75 or over, or
• They have lived in a care home for six months or more
• They get (or could get) disability living allowance, or attendance or constant attendance allowance, or mobility supplement, or
• They are registered blind or partially sighted

What’s on offer?

For a one-off payment of £40, eligible people in Shetland will be offered;

• Easy-to-use equipment to convert one television set,
• Installation of that equipment if requested (a delivery only option is available),
• An aerial check and upgrade if necessary and where possible 
• A demonstration of how it works, and
• A twelve month aftercare service

The standard offer for eligible people in the STV North TV region is for a Freeview set-top box installed on one TV. Most households will be able to receive more than 40 Freeview channels via an aerial; around 15 of the most watched Freeview channels will be available throughout the region, including all of the public service channels.

Most people will be asked to pay £40 towards the standard offer of help. For eligible people who are also on pension credit, income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance or income-related employment and support allowance, the help is free.

All eligible people in the STV North TV region can also choose from other digital options. These include freesat and Sky amongst others, some of which cost extra.

As well as the Help Scheme events, eligible people are being asked to respond to their Information Packs as soon as possible. Or to make it even easier, eligible people can choose to apply by calling the Help Scheme free on 0800 408 7654 or instead they can nominate someone else to make their application for them.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editor

Media Contacts:

Sarah Fairfax
Communications Executive – Switchover Help Scheme
T: 0191 245 8847
M: 07730424407
E: sarah.fairfax@eaga.com

Locations of the Help
Scheme bus: