It’s history in the making – tomorrow, Whitehaven in Cumbria (population: 25,500) will wake up Wednesday having been the first place in the UK to switch off its analogue TV spectrum. Only BBC Two will be the first to leave the old TV world in the small hours of Wednesday – the rest drop off on November 14 – but it marks a historic shift. So historic, The Guardian has sent someone to blog the whole, excited event. Ford Ennals, CEO of the Digital UK body managing the switchover, says Whitehaven is “well prepared” (via Digital Spy) but a local “top television expert” seems to think the opposite in Newcastle’s Sunday Sun. Ofcom reckons 80 percent of households already have access to digital TV so, whilst the start of this process may not be as dramatic as it sounds, by no means does every household TV set have that capability – and the switchover will now begin to forcibly acquaint more people with services like digital text.
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