In her speech to the Royal Television Society in Cambridge, Rt.Hon.Tessa Jowell confirmed digital switchover and outlined the timetable for switching by region.

Digital switchover will happen between 2008 and 2012 by ITV region in the following order:

2008: Border, West Country and HTV regions

2009: Granada, Grampian, Scottish TV and HTV West regions

2010: Central, Anglia and Yorkshire regions

2011: Meridian, Carlton/LWT, Tyne Tees and Ulster regions

2012: Channel Islands

The decision to switch off analogue radio will mean about 100 million non digital radios will become obsolete.

It is expected that when the analogue transmitters are switched off by 2012, 98.8% of the population will be able to receive the new digital signal.

There was a 500% annual growth in the take-up of DAB digital radios last year in the UK, second only to the MP3 player in the consumer electronics market. In fact, Digital radios can now be found in some supermarkets priced at just £20.

DAB Digital Radio transmissions now reach approximately 85% of the United Kingdom's population. New DAB transmitters are installed almost every week around the country, which means this figure will continually rise to ensure maximum coverage by 2012.

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