Time Signals

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:05 pm on 22 June 2005.

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Photo of Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Spokesperson in the Lords, Culture, Media & Sport 3:05, 22 June 2005

My Lords, according to a sports-loving friend of mine, there is some benefit to the delay. Apparently, if you nip quickly from a Sky digital broadcast to a BBC analogue one, you can see an instant replay. That sounds a little macho to me, but he swears that that is the case.

On the move from analogue to digital on the national scale, it is to be welcomed that SwitchCo has now been launched to oversee the process and that we have a timetable. But can the Minister indicate what the Government propose to do, when analogue broadcast is finally switched off, to help those who either cannot afford or have chosen not to buy the necessary equipment to allow them to receive a digital signal? Is their switchover a cost that the Government envisage the BBC carrying?