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News Release
28th September 2009
Port Vale Fans Are Given A ‘Helping Hand’ To Switch To Digital TV
With only five weeks to go to switchover in the Granada TV region, the Switchover Help Scheme’s ‘helping hand’ campaign is urging residents to help someone else to switch to digital.
The BBC-run Switchover Help Scheme has joined forces with Port Vale Football Club to make sure every eligible older and disabled person in the area knows about the help they can get to keep their TV working when switchover starts this November.
Port Vale FC are backing the ‘helping hand’ campaign and are working alongside the Help Scheme to encourage fans to reach out to those older and disabled people they know who may still need help, and encourage them to make contact with the Scheme.
Martin Weaver, Commercial Manager at Port Vale FC, said,” This is a great opportunity for the club to ‘give a helping hand’ and lend its support to a worthwhile campaign. By helping to raise the profile of the Help Scheme in and around Stoke-on-Trent, we hope that we are able to reach out to those in our area who may be particularly in need of advice and guidance and would benefit from the help that is available to convert to digital TV.”
Martin Plenderleith, Regional Network Manager for the Switchover Help Scheme in the Granada region, said: “We want everyone in the region to think about lending a helping hand to members of the community who might not have yet switched to digital.
“We are urging everyone to reach out to others and help in simple ways, even if it’s just a reminder that they are entitled to help from the Help Scheme and helping them to fill out their form. We at the Help Scheme will do the rest.”
The Winter Hill transmitter serving Liverpool, Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and North Staffordshire will begin to switch to digital on 4 November.
In the run up to switchover, the BBC-run Switchover Help Scheme is offering practical help to eligible older and disabled people to make the change to digital on one of their TV sets. Eligible people who have already converted one TV set without help from the Help Scheme can still apply to convert a second set.
People are eligible for help from the Switchover Help Scheme if they are:
- aged 75 or over,
- have lived in a care home for six months or more,
- get or could get, disability living allowance,
- attendance or constant attendance allowance, or mobility supplement,
- or if they are registered blind or partially sighted.
For a one-off payment of £40, eligible people in the ITV Granada region are being offered:
- Easy-to-use Freeview equipment to convert one television set,
- Installation of that equipment,
- An aerial check and upgrade if necessary,
- A demonstration of how it works, and
- Someone to call for help while they are getting used to it.
The service is free for people who are eligible and also get pension credit, income support, income-based jobseekers allowance or employment and support allowance.
Equipment has been specifically chosen for ease of use, and contact centre, delivery staff and installers have all been trained to understand and respect older and disabled people. Installers carry identification and will never call without having made an appointment.
More than one million people in the Granada ITV region have been posted a Help Scheme information pack and are being sent a reminder letter. They need to respond to get the help by returning completed information pack forms to the Switchover Help Scheme.
In addition, any eligible person who needs help to apply can nominate someone else to complete their form for them.
Information and advice about becoming a helping hand can be found at the following locations:
- All Age Concern offices in your area
- BBC Radio Lancashire – Darwen Street, Blackburn
- BBC Radio Cumbria – Hartington Street, Barrow-in-Furness
- BBC Radio Merseyside – Paradise Street, Liverpool
You can also find out more about the Help Scheme and who is eligible to apply, by logging on to helpscheme.co.uk
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors
Media Contacts:
Diane Green
PR and Communications Manager – Switchover Help Scheme
T: 0191 245 8847
M: 07951478832
E: diane.green@eaga.com
Sarah Fairfax
Communications Executive – Switchover Help Scheme
T: 0191 245 8834
M: 07730424407
E: sarah.fairfax@eaga.com
Images available on request
Switchover Help Scheme
The Switchover Help Scheme is run by the BBC through an agreement with the Government to help older and disabled people make the change to digital.
In the run-up to switchover in each region, every eligible person will be offered practical help to convert one of their TV sets to digital. People are eligible if they are aged 75 years or more, or if they are registered blind or partially sighted. Also eligible are people who get (or could get) attendance or constant attendance allowance, mobility supplement, or disability living allowance.
Most people will be asked to contribute £40 towards the help. The service is free for people who are eligible and also get pension credit, income support or income-based jobseekers allowance or employment and support allowance.
More information is available by visiting helpscheme.co.uk
Digital television switchover is the process of converting the UK’s terrestrial television system to digital. Between now and 2012, analogue channels will be switched off region by region and replaced with free-to-air digital TV and radio services (Freeview). Switchover will extend Freeview coverage to the whole of the UK and free up airwaves for new services such as ultra-fast wireless broadband and mobile television.
eaga
eaga, a leading provider of residential energy efficiency and outsourcing services, has been selected by the BBC as the Help Scheme service provider to deliver the help available under the scheme from the ITV Border region onwards.