1. The Digital Switchover Help Scheme Nick Tanton BBC

2. In 2005 the UK Government asked the BBC to manage a scheme to ensure that older and disabled people are not left behind as the country switches to digital television. UK is switching to digital television region by region between 2008 and 2012. The Switchover Help Scheme

3. To provide practical help to older and disabled people to make the switch to digital TV. To make sure no eligible person is left with a blank screen after switchover. Purpose of Scheme

4. People are eligible for help if : they are aged 75 or over, they have lived in a care home for 6 months or more, they get “Disability Living Allowance”, “Attendance Allowance”, “Constant Attendance Allowance” or “Mobility Supplement”, or they are registered blind or partially sighted. Who is eligible ?

5. People who choose to take help get : a choice of easy-to-use DTV equipment, installation of the equipment and a demonstration of how to use it, a new aerial or dish if necessary and free aftercare for 12 months. What help do eligible people get ?

6. Support from the Help Scheme costs £40 for the standard offer although this is free to eligible people who are on various forms of income benefit. The Switchover Help Scheme is run by the BBC through an agreement with the UK Government. It is funded out of the BBC licence fee. How much does it cost ?

7. Consultation Understanding and fulfilling the needs of our eligible people Code of Service Standards - a comprehensive range of 91 promises of the service eligible people might expect (eg. all calls handled by trained people, choice of formats for communications, face-to-face help if needed etc.) Continual stakeholder consultation and user feedback Regular market research Understanding those hardest to reach

8. The scale of the Scheme commenced in 2007 switchover in the UK runs from 2008 until 2012 there are 15 regions (7 completed by May 2011), an estimated 7 million eligible people so far over 5.5 million have been mailed over 700,000 installations have been completed we’re currently doing > 30,000 per week we expect to have done a total of more than >1.6 million by the end of 2012

9. The Customer Journey

10. The equipment (1) designed with our eligible people in mind the “Core Receiver Requirements”* specification sets a standard of user-experience without constraining innovation or commerce straightforward and easy to use and to support post- installation * developed in consultation with stakeholder groups such as RNIB, RNID, Age UK etc

11. The equipment (2) universal remote with a premium standard of useability user-feedback (visual and audible) clear, short and uncluttered menus platform compliant value for money

12. high-contrast buttons with a positive feel well-separated buttons buttons grouped by function one-touch subtitles one-touch AD a “home” button Universal remote

13. User-friendly service discovery (1) Retuning is already a recognised challenge to all TV viewers. A significant number of viewers get some DTT signals before their analogue TV signals are switched off. Transmitter frequency & power changes, service moves and the addition of new services present an unaccustomed broadcast environment for the viewer, especially to our eligible people. How do we make retuning easy ?

14. User-friendly service discovery (2)

15. User-friendly service discovery (3)

16. User-friendly region selection (1) DTT signals know no frontiers. It has been estimated that over 600,000 households in London alone can see DTT signals from more than one transmitter. Of these it is estimated that over 400,000 households can see DTT signals from more than one TV region. How do we make it easy for you to choose your preferred version of a regional channel ?

17. User-friendly region selection (2)

18. Set-top boxes

19. In summary Accessibility and useability features don’t have to be expensive. Although the Switchover Help Scheme focuses on part of the population, the features we have encouraged and developed suit everyone. There is a wealth of experience in delivering an improved user-experience to the domestic TV environment. nick.tanton@bbc.co.uk