TV viewers across parts of Burnham-On-Sea, Berrow and Brean could automatically receive the Welsh version of the BBC by default after this month’s digital switchover.
The expected blip is as a result of a boost to the signal strength of a Welsh TV transmitter, which is expected to affect almost 30,000 homes along the Bristol Channel coastline.
Bill Taylor, South West regional manager for Digital UK, confirmed this week: “We have done some analysis which suggests that after the switchover several pockets of the West of England will receive the Welsh version of the BBC instead of their regional variation of BBC1 when they tune in.”
“This is something we expect to happen because of the strong signal being emitted by the Wenvo transmitted in Wales which will compete with the Mendip transmitter.”
“We want viewers to know this is expected and the message is ‘don’t panic’. The solution is to manually retune and we can help you do that via our phone line and website.”
He added that two of the most likely areas to be affected are the Somerset coast of the Bristol Channel, north and south of Weston-super-Mare.
The switchover for the area covered by BBC Points West takes place over the next few weekd and afterwards, analogue TVs without digital TV boxes will cease to work.
On March 24th, BBC2 analogue is due to be switched off in our area and the remaining analogue channels will be switched off on April 7th. For more details, see the Digital UK website here.
