The digital TV switchover is in full swing, having started with Whitehaven in Cumbria in 2007 and continuing until everyone in the UK is switched over in 2012 (just in time to watch the Olympics!), so the next change on the agenda has to be digital radio. The initial report has been completed by the Digital Radio Working Group, who have no set timetable yet but estimate that all radio could in theory be digital by 2020, although they stress that listeners would have to be given at least 2 years notice before any switch took place. In the home a lot of people have access to digital radio through their Sky TV or Virgin Media services, not to mention Freeview and BT Vision, but what about in the car? There must be a real opportunity for car audio manufacturers to produce good value digital radios for in-car use too.

This week the BBC and ITV have jointly announced their new satellite service - free in the sense that there’s no monthly fee after you’ve paid for the kit required and the installation. It will be called FreeSat (very similar to Freesat from Sky, more comparisons later) and will initially offer 80 channels with the promise of 200 by the end of the year, all for an installation fee of about £80 and purchase of either a standard box for around £49 or an HD box for more like £120.
The initial channels on offer will include all the offerings from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 - not 5 yet but we are told that is just a contract-sorting formality away - and if you opt for the HD box (and have an HD ready TV) you’ll be able to view HD programmes from ITV and the BBC. BSkyB are not too happy because ITV have decided to make their HD TV output exclusive to the new FreeSat service rather than giving it to Sky customers as well, but Sky customers will be able to use their existing dish to power a FreeSat box on a second TV.
So what kind of programmes are going to feature? As you’d expect, the big crowd pleasers. BBC output will include Strictly Come Dancing, Gavin and Stacey, Hustle and Wimbledon, as well as more obscure arts and music, whereas ITV will start with FA Cup and Champions League matches and drama like Kingdom, with HD movies and shows like The X-Factor appearing as soon as they can.
This could be good for you if you are unable to receive Freeview, or you want to get some HD channels without paying a monthly fee.

Regulator Ofcom announced on 3rd April that four HD channels are being made available for Freeview. One of them is reserved for the BBC, while the other three will be put out to tender for offers from the other TV companies (such as Channel 4, ITV, Channel 5 and S4C), and the first three should be live by 2009, when switchover is due to take place in Granada and other regions. The only problem is viewers who want to watch HD on Freeview will need a new set-top box incorporating the superior MPEG-4 rather than MPEG-2 compression technology (MPEG-4 is twice as efficient as the MPEG-2 standard) and these are not available to buy in the  shops just yet.