If this thing had been organised properly, or if the consumer electronics industry had any confidence in it at all they would have moved over to demanding all new sets had a digital capability years ago. This whole thing has been poorly organised and lacked real commitment from the top.

Part of the scheme should have included a cut-off date for selling obsolete analogue only sets. Various European rules were quoted at me when I asked why this wasn't done but the underlying truth is Government didn't commit the resources to it.

Part of the reason is probably their own doubts over their ability to meet this schedule. Before Ofcom was formed and the dumbing-down started as career civil servants opted to stay with the DTi I asked the engineer at the Radiocommunications Agency what he thought about getting this done by 2012. As a real human being he was laughing at this for quite some time....