Irish switchover awareness not matched by actions

Awareness of Ireland’s digital TV switchover has risen to 94,000, however only 50,000 of the 200,000 households reliant on digital TV have so far upgraded.

The latest tracking study by Millward Brown Lansdowne was carried out before the recent National Digital Switchover Week that took place from September 17 – 23.

“The figures are encouraging and the indications are that viewers are starting to make the switch in big numbers. However, there is still a large number yet to make the switch and I would urge those viewers to make the switch now and not to wait until the last minute,” said minister for communications, Pat Rabbitte.

The minister has been adamant that there will be no delay to the October 24 switchover, which under European obligations should be completed by the end of the year.

While UPC Ireland is a cable alternative, the majority of those households fall outside the cablenet’s reach, placing the emphasis on the free-to-air DTT platform Saorview and its satellite counterpart Saorsat.

 

About Julian Clover

You can talk to Julian on Twitter @julianclover, on Facebook or by email at jclover@broadbandtvnews.com. Julian has been following the media world for over 20 years with a focus on the UK and Nordic markets, HD, 3D and connected TV technologies.