§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what projections his Department has made of the number of households with digital television in 2006(a) with a digital licence fee supplement as proposed by the Independent Review Panel into the future funding of the BBC and (b) without such a supplement. [100046]
§ Janet AndersonWe do not have these specific figures at present. However, DCMS commissioned an independent report from Nera in 1998, which suggested between 13.8 million and 18.5 million households would have digital capability by 2008. The potential impact of a digital licence supplement on take up of digital television is something we are considering in reaching our conclusions on the independent review panel's recommendations. As part of that process, we will look at all the available evidence on this issue.