Television viewers along the north Shropshire border have been getting more than they bargained for after the digital switchover – programmes in Welsh.
Digital UK, the organisation leading the switch, has been inundated with calls from puzzled viewers receiving Welsh TV instead of their usual regional channels.
But the vast majority can now watch in English again after being told how to retune their sets.
It follows the switch from analogue to digital TV earlier this month, affecting 7.2 million viewers in the Granada area of England, including thousands of households on the western and northerly fringes of Shropshire.
Around 6,000 Granada viewers have contacted Digital UK’s advice line because they are receiving BBC Wales, ITV Wales and S4C instead of their usual channels.
Transmitter
The Welsh TV signal from Wrexham is at a lower frequency than the transmitter for north west England. When TVs scan the frequencies of the newly boosted digital signal, the Welsh services are sometimes assigned to the first channels because the lowest frequencies are picked out first.
Simon Crine, from Digital UK, said: “We took an enormous amount of calls on the days of switchovers. One in 10 reported overlapping signals from Wales.”
He said people had been given advice on how to choose their preferred regional service. Visit www.digitaluk.co.uk/retuning for a fact sheet or call 08456 505050. The majority of Shropshire is still served by the analogue Central area signal from The Wrekin transmitter. The switchover for that area will be in 2011.
Peter Johnson