TELEVISION captions will have started appearing on screens across the Borders this week, reminding viewers that digital switchover will be happening later this year but many Borders residents who will be affected may not know about the help scheme available.
Borders MP Michael Moore is calling on the BBC to provide immediate information on the Digital Switchover Help Scheme.
Viewers in the region are likely to have seen the message "If you can see this, your TV will be affected by the switchover on 6 No
vember. Questions? Call Digital UK on 0845 234 0388" on their television screens this week if they have not already switched over to digital. However, Mr Moore is concerned that many viewers are still not aware that they might be able to receive help with switchover through the official Digital Switchover Help Scheme.
Under the scheme, all households with someone aged 75 or over, or with someone who has a significant disability, or someone who is registered blind or partially sighted, are entitled to receive assistance. Of these households, those who receive income-related benefits will be entitled to receive the help for free. Otherwise, the charge to take part in the scheme will be £40.
Mr Moore has repeatedly expressed concerns that many disabled and older people in the Borders risk missing out on this help. If someone who was otherwise eligible for free help under the scheme goes ahead and converts their television sets and VCR ready for digital, they will not receive any reimbursement.
Mr Moore is hosting the seventh Borders Digital Forum to discuss the help scheme tomorrow, Friday, May 9, at Tweed Horizons and among the guests at the event will be the BBC's chief executive of the Digital Switchover Help Scheme, and a representatives of Eaga, the company that won the contract to implement the help scheme in the Borders, plus senior figures within Digital UK.
Mr Moore said: "It is of course entirely sensible for Digital UK to press ahead with their publicity programme for switchover, and these captions are sure to reach many of the viewers who had previously been unaware of exactly when switchover was taking place in the Borders.
"However, I remain disappointed that, despite many months of highlighting the urgency of this issue with consecutive Government Ministers, local people still have not been informed of their eligibility for help with switchover.
"As I have repeatedly said, it is manifestly unfair that those who follow the Government's own advice, do the sensible thing and prepare for switchover ahead of time risk losing out financially, as they will not receive any reimbursements under the scheme."
Any local viewers who wish to attend the Borders Digital Forum should call Michael Moore's Parliamentary Office on 01896 663 650 for further details.
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