If they weren’t aware of digital switchover already, viewers in the town of Whitehaven in Cumbria will this week see crawling captions on the four analogue terrestrial channels available in the area. The messages, lasting for about one minute, will appear intermittently on BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1 and Channel 4 from May 8. They will appear at different times of the day between 06.00 and midnight.
The captions will advise viewers of the October 17 switchover and provide a number at the switchover body Digital UK that they can call for further information.
Whitehaven, on the English-Scottish borders is the first area in the UK to undergo the full switchover process. The analogue signal of BBC Two will be lost on October 17 and the three remaining analogue channels will be switched off a month later.
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