§ Dr. George TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what assessment he has made of the prospects for removing regional anomalies in television coverage following the introduction of digital terrestrial television services; [75464]
(2) if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy on communities receiving appropriate regional television broadcasting; [75463]
(3) what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) using digital terrestrial television transmitters to remove regional anomalies in analogue broadcasting and (b) using digital capacity to simulcast different regional variations from a single transmitter in order to remove these anomalies. [75462]
212W
§ Janet AndersonResponsibility for the delivery of analogue and digital terrestrial television (DTT) services rests with the BBC and Independent Television Commission. The ITC recently received an encouraging report of a study it commissioned into the prospects for increasing DTT coverage. The ITC will soon commence planning for the next phase of DTT transmitter in conjunction with the BBC. The prime objective of this work is further to extend DTT coverage. The Government have made it clear to the ITC and BBC that delivery of regional services is an important element to consider in development of the digital transmission network. The studies are, at this stage, designed to look at general principles and will not focus on the costs of employing digital transmissions to remove regional anomalies.