UK 'to miss analogue switch-off deadline'
The UK is likely to miss the 2012 deadline for the switch-off of analogue television by up to three years, according to research by business information company, the Informa Group.
The report, which compares progress towards digital television in 43 countries around the world, says the UK is lagging behind Canada, Norway, Ireland, Finland and the US. It says the unwillingness of the government to push digital television is holding back consumers from signing up to the new technology.
The UK, Denmark, Hong Kong, South Korea, Sweden and Japan will be in the 'second tier' of countries achieving full digital penetration, says the Informa survey. By 2010, two-thirds of households with televisions in the countries surveyed will still receive the analogue signal. While 369.8m people are expected to have access to digital television, 706m will still receive analogue signals
It is estimated that roughly a third of the world's population will have digital services by 2010. The United States, which currently has 45% of the world's digital viewers, is predicted to take an early lead in the conversion from analogue to digital.
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