Digital UK regional manager Bill Taylor and Switchover Help Scheme regional manager Caroline Byng were in the island yesterday as the 12-month countdown to switching off the analog TV signal began. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0874050)

IN ONE year, a blank screen will greet any islander still trying to watch analog TV.

However, over the next 12 months a campaign will prepare people, especially the elderly and disadvantaged, to make the digital switch with ease.

It could even involve creating an ‘army’ of technologically-proficient Scouts and schoolchildren to help the less able, according to Digital UK regional manager Bill Taylor.

‘In the Channel Islands there will be a precise moment, on a November day next year, when analog TV is switched off forever,’ he said. ‘If you are not ready, your screen will go blank.’

Mr Taylor’s job is to make sure everyone is ready and said the process had gone smoothly so far in the UK.

‘We are speaking to schools and Scout leaders and hope to form an army of children who have no fear of technology and who are ideally placed to help their grannies and grandpas.’

He said that while not all elderly people struggled with technology, it was that age group which tended to depend on TV for outside contact more than any other.