Draft Core Receiver Requirements Consultation

This consultation is now closed

Responses to the consultation are avaliable below:

27 July 2006

The Government confirmed in September 2005 that digital switchover would proceed on a region by region basis, starting in Border region in 2008, and completing the process in the UK by the end of 2012. Government also announced a support scheme to make sure that no one is left behind in the switch. It will provide help with equipment and installation and follow-up support for people aged 75 years and over and people with significant disabilities.

This assistance will be provided to

(a) households where someone is aged 75 or over; and
(b) households with people with severe disabilities (defined as those people eligible for either Disability Living Allowance or Attendance Allowance or equivalent benefits); and
(c) households with one person registered as blind or partially sighted.

Assistance will consist of providing the necessary equipment to convert one TV set and the relevant help to install and use such equipment, including where necessary provision of appropriate set-top aerials or aerial upgrades.

This help will be free for the poorest eligible households those on Income Support, Job Seekers’ Allowance or Pension Credit. We will charge a modest fee to others.

The equipment provided needs to be easy to use and to allow consumers to get all the services they have now and all the specific functionalities they need, such as subtitles or audio-description. The scheme itself needs to be easy to access and be designed around the specific needs of those who will need assistance.

We envisage the assistance scheme being managed by an organisation, as yet not specified, which will contract with one or more companies for the installation service, reflecting the fact that those eligible for assistance will be able to choose between the different platform offerings. The installation service providers may be responsible for providing the necessary consumer equipment. This will include set top boxes but may also include integrated digital televisions and personal video recorders, against a charge.

More generally, the DTI is working with industry to encourage the development and availability in the UK market place of a wide range of digital TV receivers incorporating agreed “best practice” features in preparation for switchover.

The DTI and DCMS, with advice from the BBC, have worked with the Consumer Expert Group on Core Receiver Requirements for the consumer equipment which we believe best meet the needs of older and disabled people. The government is aware that the pace of technological change demands flexibility as well as the need to specify core requirements. Equally, we recognise that respective industries will need appropriate lead time, to manufacture and produce the relevant technology.

This is why we are publishing now the draft core receiver requirements for the equipment which we feel should be available to those eligible to the Assistance Scheme. The Secretary of State will provide more detail on the Assistance Scheme later this year.

We welcome your views on the draft core receiver requirements document.

Draft Core Receiver Requirements consultation document PDF (171kb)

Draft Core Receiver Requirements consultation document RTF (422kb)

Responses

Age Concern PDF (28kb)
Clive Miller PDF (17kb)
Consumer Expert Group PDF (17kb)
Digital Television Group PDF (36kb)
Intellect PDF (66kb)
Portset System Ltd PDF (24kb)
Royal National Institute for the Blind PDF (21kb)
Royal National Institute for the Deaf PDF (20kb)
Sense PDF (18kb)
Supply Chain Switchover Group PDF (34Kb)
Telecommunications Action Group PDF (16kb)

TVonics PDF (76kb)

Please note that all information in responses, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If correspondent requests confidentiality this cannot be guaranteed, and will only be possible if considered appropriate under the legislation.

If you have any questions or complaints about the process of consultation on this paper, please contact Liz Sweet, Consultation Co-ordinator, Strategy Division, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2-4 Cockspur Street, London SW1Y 5DH Liz.sweet@culture.gsi.gov.uk

More documents are available in date order in the Archive.

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