§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of the re-equipment costs, in actual and marginal terms, to the consumer of replacing existing analogue television sets and video recorders resulting from any Government decision to compel a move from analogue terrestrial television broadcasting to a digital system.
§ Mr. McLoughlin[holding answer 26 April 1994]:There has been no decision to compel a move from analogue terrestrial television broadcasting to digital systems. Neither is any form of compulsion on consumers envisaged for the future. The last precedent of a change of TV standard was the 405-line to 625-line change. This was achieved by natural replacement of television sets. Studies are being undertaken by the Radiocommunications Agency to see whether enough frequency channels exist to allow near national coverage of a digital terrestrial broadcasting service sometime in the future. This would be a prerequisite for eventually being able to switch off the analogue television networks. But in the short to medium term any move to digital terrestrial broadcasting is likely to be an opportunity both for broadcasters and viewers and not a requirement. As such there are no costs falling on consumers from compelling a move from analogue to digital. The United Kingdom network and consumer equipment market for digital video broadcasting is expected to be worth £5 billion to £10 billion over 15 years.