Digital revolution under fire - Rural areas will be hit by digital switchover (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Digital revolution under fire - Rural areas will be hit by digital switchover

8:00am Thursday 9th July 2009

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THE digital revolution will leave some people in south Shropshire without a good television or radio signal unless they spend money.

It is also claimed that the move will be wasteful and damage the environment.

Peter Phillips, Shropshire councillor for Bishop’s Castle, wants the switch from analogue, set for 2015, to be put back until issues affecting south Shropshire have been dealt with.

“The only way people in areas like south west Shropshire will be able to receive digital radio is by installing a satellite dish and then in every room a plug or socket for the radio,” said Coun Phillips, who leads the opposition Liberal Democrat group on the new Shropshire Council. “We will no longer be able to carry radios from room to room.

“The issue is that, of the 15 per cent of people who don’t receive and won’t receive digital radio, most of them are in hilly rural areas. Digital radio is more sight-line specific than FM so coverage from the masts will be even narrower.”

Coun Phillips said poorer households would be hit by the need to replace all their radio sets and people in hilly areas by the necessity to install satellite dishes and plugs in every room.

He said that there would be a lot of waste with millions of perfectly good radios being made redundant, including a vintage set of his own dating from the Second World War.

Also, Coun Phillips said there are environmental issues to consider and claimed that DAB digital radios consume four times more electricity that traditional transistor sets.

■ What do you think about the implications of the digital switchover: Email your letters to letters@ludlowadvertiser.

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