Regional Victoria is on track for digital switchover: Senator Conroy

By Keri Algar

SYDNEY, NSW: The take up of digital TV in Victoria almost doubled in 2010 from 2009 resulting in over 80 per cent of households in regional Victoria now ready for the 5 May switchover.

In the last quarter of 2010 over three quarters of households across Australia had converted to digital TV, with the uptake highest in Darwin and Tasmania, according to a report released by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

Senator Stephen Conroy said regional Victoria is ready for the 5 May switchover and that the uptake across regional Australia was well underway.
“As the third region in Australia to switch, and by far the largest to date with approximately 450,000 households part of the switchover, regional Victoria is on track for the switch to digital TV,” Conroy said in a statement.

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"South-West Victoria had the highest rate of conversion in regional Victoria, with 85 per cent of households reporting they were digital ready.”

The uptake of digital TV in Australia’s capital cities has been slower with conversion rates in Sydney at 66 per cent, Brisbane at 78 per cent and Melbourne at 79 per cent compared with Darwin and Tasman leading with a 88 per cent conversion rate.

Conroy said that broadcasters have rolled out new transmitters in regional areas to improve the reliability of local digital TV reception and that free to air digital TV channels were being extended by Government funded VAST satellite services in remote areas.

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