Yet another study says the government's hopes of turning off analogue by 2010 are in doubt was reported today in the Media Guardian.
Informa Media believe that by 2010, 49% of viewers will be doing so via satellite or cable, and just a fifth of people watching via digital terrestrial (DTT), leaving just 68% of people with digital.
It is a rather doom and gloom scenario - others have been a lot more optimistic, but even the most optimistic have still been cautious of believing that we can turn analogue off in that time.
The biggest problems won't be price - DTT set top boxes are falling all the time. More likely is that the (current) limited coverage areas of DTT obviously cause problems, along with the perception that satellite means subscription.
But the biggest problem will ultimatly be that some people are happy with five channels and that's that. The government says it won't start turning off analogue until digital uptake is 95%, but the digital refuseniks are a bigger proportion than 5%.
Unless they have their arms forced, this sizable minority are going to scupper the plans to turn off analogue. Unfortunatly the government doesn't seem to understand this simple premise - if you want to
The unfortunate problem is that the government is simply isn't prepared to grasp the bull by the horns and actually do something. Even publishing and committing to a firm timetable to turn off analogue would help. Instead, they simply mess around with no commitment to anything. With an attitude like that, of course analogue is still going to be here in 2010.
