Terrestrial switch-off date 'too fast' for all TV viewers

Plans to switch off the UK'S TV transmitters and move all broadcasters to internet-only streaming are moving too fast and risk leaving 5.4m UK households without access to any television at all in 2035, a new report has found.

- Stephen Armstrong

Mathew Horsman, an independent analyst and former managing director of research firm Mediatique, will warn this week that around 10 million people could lose access.

The Department of Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) will decide on when to switch off the country's TV transmitters in 2026, using data from a report by Exeter University that predicts 95% of UK homes will be watching TV online by 2040 and just 1.4 million, mostly older, individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds will depend on terrestrial. In July, the media regulator, Ofcom, insisted a decision early in the year is essential “to manage an inclusive transition”.

Horsman's figures paint a gloomier picture of the UK's digital uptake than the Exeter report. The Digital Poverty Alliance, which campaigns over digital exclusion, thinks the figures are even higher, with nearly 20% of premises to be without adequate connections in 2040, owing to inability or unwillingness to pay.