Purvis leads debate ahead of digital switchover (Aberdeen South & North Kincardine Liberal Democrats)

Aberdeen South & North Kincardine Liberal Democrats <info@aberdeensouthlibdems.org.uk>

Purvis leads debate ahead of digital switchover

November 6, 2008 10:18 AM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats

div class=field field-type-text field-field-body div class=field-items div class=field-itempLiberal Democrat MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale Jeremy Purvis is leading a debate in the Scottish Parliament to highlight the two-tier system the digital switchover will create in the Borders./p pThe UK-wide switchover gets fully underway tonight, starting in the Scottish Borders. BBC 2 will go digital in Selkirk tomorrow./p pViewers who receive their television signal through relay transmitters will, however, be able to access only 50 per cent of digital channels. This will affect over half the viewers in the Borders./p pspan class=inline inline-leftimg src=http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/files/images/Jeremy-Purvis.thumbnail.jpg alt= title= class=image image-thumbnail width=80 height=100 //spanCommenting ahead of his debate, Mr Purvis said:/p p"The UK's digital TV switchover starts in Selkirk, at the heart of my constituency. Many of my constituents have contacted me pointing out that because they receive their television signal through a relay transmitter they will only be able to see 50 per cent of the digital channels. /p p"As it stands, this digital switchover will create a two-tier service in the Borders, with more than 50 per cent of local viewers only being able to access half of the channels./p p"Furthermore, there are serious doubts over the effectiveness of the Switchover Help Scheme. This scheme was established to give practical support to those people expected to have the most difficulty in making the switch to digital TV./p p"The digital revolution is a positive development for television. I am, however, concerned that many people in my area and indeed in areas across Scotland will be unable to enjoy its many benefits."/p div class=image-clear/div/div /div /div