ABSTRACT
In 1996, 88 per cent of TV hours were watched on terrestrial, in 1999, 87 per cent of TV hours were watched on free to air. Despite a slow take up of new initiatives, digital television is the next change to affect the media. Digitilisation means the translating of information into electronic 0s and 1s so that it is easier to send, store and manipulate. This information can be compressed, so that more channels can be transmitted using the same amount of capacity or bandwidth. Fibre optic cables can also carry much more information than radio frequencies, and two-way communication is possible using this technology. About 3 million homes in the UK have signed up to digital television, and research indicates that viewing habits are changing. Using the electronic programme guide (EPG) viewers can switch between channels more quickly, they are less tolerant of programmes they are not interested in, and of adverts. The relaunched BBC Choice put resources into 15-minute programmes to appeal to 25 to 44 year olds. Such programmes can be recycled because only a limited audience will see them at any one time. Grazing may be on the increase, although the typical viewer concentrates on a few favourite networks rather than continuously scrolling through 240 channels. Children are more likely to be able to operate the EPG adeptly to screen out anything they regard as boring (Brown 2000).
