At midnight on 23 October, Olympian Dame Mary Peters will be joined at Belfast’s Divis broadcast transmission station by Arqiva CEO, John Cresswell, to turn off analogue TV services to Northern Ireland and switch on a new high-power digital TV transmission service by Arqiva. During the following day, main stations at Divis, Brougher Mountain, Limavady and 43 relay transmitters across Northern Ireland will switch to a new high-power digital system for Freeview reaching into 650,000 homes across the country. More than 200,000 viewers across Northern Ireland will be able to watch Freeview TV for the first time. The switchover will bring to an end five years of preparatory work in Northern Ireland including the construction of seven new multiplexes and upgrades to the three main transmission masts in Divis, Limavady and Brougher Mountain, to take them from analogue to freeview transmitters. John Cresswell, CEO of Arqiva, said: “The completion of DSO in October will signal the end of what is a truly magnificent achievement for Arqiva and our Freeview partners, alongside Digital UK and Ofcom. In only five years, we have transformed this vital public service and built a modern platform for transmitting the best of British TV into over 20 million homes across the UK. Along with the launch of Youview, DSO, by providing digital television across the UK, cements 2012 as a landmark year in British broadcasting keeping free-to-air viewing for consumers, at its core.”www.arqiva.com
