10th March 2010

BEAMINSTER: Digital TV viewers urged to complain over signal

by Paul Crompton

DIGITAL television viewers living the postcode lottery that determines if they receive the full service may be without certain channels for at least another year.

Black spots throughout the county means disgruntled residents have continued reporting a loss of signal up to three times a week, having lost the ITV3 and 4 channels altogether since the switchover.

And with both main political parties threatening cut backs following the general election the solution could take years to remedy.

Frustrated viewers are now being urged to fill out a form drafted by Dorset Broadcasting Action Group (DorBAG) who are hoping to quantify these problems.

Beaminster town and county Councillor Rebecca Knox has said: “To fix the problem will take a huge amount of pressure and also depend on who wins the next election.

“There has been problems because Beaminster is in a dip and it’s very, very difficult to get reception if you have not got a (satellite) dish as far, as I’m aware.

“It needs a lot of pressure to be put on the Freeview digital authority in order to get better reception and right the signal around the county for us to receive ITV3 on a Freeview system.”

Beaminster resident and town councillor Douglas Beazer said: “It’s most frustrating when you lose a programme. If you’re watching a play you lose the thread of the story.

“Nearly everyone has their aerial pointed at the Beaminster relay and gets their signal from that. When the signal goes on the digital transmitter it affects a lot of people.

“Currently several people speak to us in the town, and when we meet with people socially the subject always comes up and you pick it up from that. Put all that together and you find out a lot of people are affected.

“Hopefully we can find out the cause of this and get a better signal so we don’t get these constant interruptions.

“There must be something they can do to give us a more constant signal.

DorBAG chairman, Conservative MP Oliver Letwin, said a lot of people were served by the relay transmitter and not the main transmitter, and that was why they did not receive the full range of digital channels

“For all the great proportion that gets (digital) terrestrial service the question is what channels do they get,” he said.

“A large number in west Dorset who live on one side of the street than the other or the other side of town, because of the system, will get half as many channels as the other.

“That’s not something that can be solved overnight. We are currently trying to get to the point where the costing to having a new transmitter is done.”

To fill out the form visit www.dorbag.org.uk/main/questionnaire.htm where viewers can easily enter details of their own problems online.

For more information on current and past activities and issues, and how to improve your reception, visit www.dorbag.org.uk.

PICTURE: Beaminster's relay transmitter isn't providing the level of service it should

Photo: mb21 UK Broadcast Transmission http://tx.mb21.co.uk