Analogue signals were turned off across Northern Ireland from midnight, as the final phase of the five-year project switch to digital sets concludes. The change in analogue signal, which has been in use for more than 70 years, also marked the end of BBC Ceefax, the world's first teletext service, after almost four decades.
Ceefax, which provided news, features and services to viewers, has been replaced with the “red button” on digital television. Last night the final headline on the BBC Ceefax "page 302" was about Manchester United's 3-2 against Braga in their Champions League Group H match at Old Trafford.
The £630 million scheme, which will bring digital to 98.5 per cent of the British population, brought an end to the BBC Two analogue signal earlier this month. Officials said that as part of the changeover households already using digital televisions, or set-top boxes, would have to retune.
To mark the end of the old transmission technology last night, Dame Mary Peters, the 1972 Olympic gold medallist in pentathlon, "flicked" the final analogue switch at the Divis transmitter, in Belfast.
Since switchover process started in 2008, up to 26 million homes have had their old analogue TV signal turned off while more than 10 million viewers have also had their digital terrestrial signals, called Freeview, improved.
Source: The Telegraph
