Ofcom’s Digital Dividend review – the Public Voice petition
Public Voice has petitioned the Prime Minister to ensure that spectrum freed for use following digital switchover is available for citizen and community uses, by rejecting the notion that all of it is sold off to the highest bidder.
The petition, online at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CitizensSpectrum, is a response to the feeling among Public Voice coalition members, and others VCS groups, that under the current plans to auction spectrum freed up by digital switchover, citizen and community users will lose out.
The deadline for signing is March 19th 2007.
For further details on Public Voice’s involvement with the Digital Dividend Review, please contact Rebecca Fulton on rfulton@csv.org.uk, or visit Public Voice’s website at www.public-voice.org.uk
I urge the government to retain sufficient UHF bandwidth for the free-to-air delivery of all primary public broadcast services in High Definition at a usable bit-rate of >10Mbps per channel in parallel with existing SD services. The current SD standards were set in the 1950’s and most new displays considerably exceed SD resolution. High Definition services are widely expected to supercede SD and equipment is now readily available in retail stores. The public expects HD television and are buying on the basis that HD service will become available as soon as possible. Consumers must not be forced down the route of getting HDTV through payment services only.