Digital uptake now at 82%
82 per cent of households have now converted to digital TV.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
82% of households have now converted to digital TV according to new data released by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy.
Darwin has the highest conversion rate so far of 89 per cent at the end of June, with Tasmania next on 86 per cent, Adelaide 85 per cent, northern New South Wales 84 per cent, and southern New South Wales 83 per cent.
Regional Queensland has increased to 84 per cent during the April–June 2011 quarter.
“With 100 days to go until analog TV signals are turned off forever, regional Queensland is well on track for the switch to digital-only TV,” Senator Conroy said.
“The number of digital-ready households in the Remote Central and Eastern Australia TV licence area – which includes areas of South Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania – has more than doubled since early 2009.
“This is a great result so far but I encourage all those remaining households to make the switch as soon as possible to avoid a last minute rush.
“50,000 eligible households have so far been provided with the installation and demonstration of a high definition set top box free of charge, marking a significant milestone in the life of the scheme.”
According to preliminary data in the Audience Inventory survey, TV Tonight readers outstrip the 82% switchover by the rest of the country, having already made the move.
Of course.
18 Responses
This information is almost meaningless, why? because it just shows that people are switching because they have to not bescause they want to. So the information is not as rosy as the federal government and the networks would like us to believe. I switched over about two years ago mainly because of TenHD. I thought that digital tv would be great but i was and still am bitterly disapointed at what has happened ONE HD not with-standing. When the content on the digital channels improves then we can cheer but untill that happens then we should jut keep an eye on it and not get to excited.
@ Carta
Is your antenna from before 2000 ? Because the ABC has a digital reception webpage. I don’t know what’s up with the Nine signals. As that might be your area. It’s fine in ours. But if you’ve got an older antenna they are designed for Ch 0-10 . However the digital channels are different frequencies than analogue i.e. analogue ABC or Ch 2 is 2 (unless your area is different ) and digital ABC is 12 . Also digital Ten (including One and Eleven ) is actually 11 . So people can have problems with it. The rest of them are between 0-10 except SBS . Another problem could be if the antenna is located properly. If it’s indoors it could be pointed slightly wrong and/or get interference with weather. If in the roof it also might get interfered with including rain on the roof blocking the signal. The other possibility is you might have a faulty STB . Or do you get power problems? Because when the power would turn off in our area the sound wouldn’t work with an old STB. So I had to turn the power on and off until it worked.
It’s interesting hearing others comment on the weak digital signals – I thought I was one of the unlucky ones who lived in a black spot! Nine is the worst for me (and Gem and Go!, given their affiliations). It can be fine for quite a while, then suddenly, it becomes blocky, the sound cuts in and out and it gets progressively worse until the dreaded black screen makes frequent appearances. If I turn the STB off, it seems to reset itself and is OK again for a little while. All of the ABC channels are virtually unwatchable all of the time (rain, hail or shine). What is the solution??
Living in an area where analogue has already been switched off, digital TV has a long way to go. Picture quality is great, except when reception is really bad. On windy days it’s virtually unwatchable. There is definitely room for improvement.
you’d assume that uptake will never quite reach 100%, which means in 100 days some people will switch on their TVs and wonder why it isn’t working anymore!
Is the %age indicative of households with at least 1 digital-capable TV, or %age of digital-capable TV sets, or households that are 100% digital TV?
I’m surprised it’s so high, in the last two weeks I’ve had a conversation where I was asked what Go! was, and another person wondered why Neighbours isn’t on any more. I’m surrounded by 18 percenters!
I’d switch too if we had a decent signal in Sydney’s northwest. I would rather watch programmes through the snow than have silences several seconds long all the time.
Is that 82% of households *with a television* or 82% of all households?
I just got a new LG PVR for just $178 but with the knowledge it’s SD only, I have a HD STB which I can hook up to the LG to record the HD channels if I need. Yes I know they will not be in HD for playback but it still work at a fraction of the cost of a HD PVR with DVD.
I agree some are being sucked in buying PVRs and STB that are not HD, while its all most impossible to find a TV without HD built in now.
“50,000 eligible households have so far been provided with the installation and demonstration of a high definition set top box free of charge, marking a significant milestone in the life of the scheme.”
Maybe we need more Full HD channels then! SBS is still the only one to have HD for it’s main channel, even if it’s only 720.
“Of course.”
Love it.
And any statistics on how many of them have to watch the analogue with their digital TVs or instead of set top boxes because of weather and other interference issues? Of course digital only channels are completely useless as there is no analogue back up.
Time for this ridiculous law that says FTA’s have to broadcast primary channels on SD channels.
What about the A.C.T’s digital uptake percentage?
They have Nsw, NT & Tassie so why has the nations capital been left out?
I wonder how many people rushed out to but a SD STB and not a HD one.There usless anyway.I blame dumb sales people as well.Yet i still notice some places are trying to sell dvd recorders with a built in SD tuner, thatll go far.
@Neon Kitten , i agree , the channel 7 is the worst for there logo , so far out from the right side of the screen , but i do have to say that GEM has the best logo , stuck there away neatly on the corner not bothering anyone.
Time for a permanent end to the ridiculous 4:3 safe watermarks, then.
@Craig –
Why, ones from Harvey Norman, of course! With the boss himself talking about them.
It won’t be disclosed as an advertisement though. It’s a public service. 😉
Bring on the ACA/TT report and which TVs are the best to buy!