America;s digital switchover-lessons for the UK

As the digital switchover continues in this country it is worth reading this piece in the New York Times which looks at how the old are coping with the same issues in the United States.

Vesta Clemmons, who is 77 and lives alone, relies on the battered Zenith television in her tiny apartment here as more than just a lifeline to the outside world.

and adds that

So Ms. Clemmons was concerned to learn from a public-service campaign that after Feb. 17 the rooftop antenna connected to her television would no longer function properly, and thus neither would her TV — unless she bought and installed an adaptor.

In the United States more than 6,5 million households have not made the switch witgh just over two weeks before the big switch off reports the paper.And as it says

That so many viewers here and around the country risk losing something as basic as a free television signal is a function, at least in part, of the government’s failure to anticipate that those most affected would be among the nation’s most frail and vulnerable.