To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households have been affected by the loss of ITV3 and ITV4 following the digital television re-tune of 30 September 2009; and who took the decision to remove ITV3 and ITV4 from the areas so affected. (292937)

We believe that up to 1 million households could have been affected by the loss of ITV3 and ITV4 after the digital television re-tune. In some cases the services will be restored at digital switchover.

The decision to move one ITV service was approved as part of The Television Multiplex Services (Reservation of Digital Capacity) Order 2008, which paved the way for new services, including up to four High Definition services, on Freeview. ITV plc decided which channel to move to meet this requirement. The company also decided for commercial reasons to move another ITV channel to make way for other future channel developments as part of the re-tune process.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of licence fee receipts has been used to facilitate digital switchover; what proportion of the digital switchover help scheme budget remains unspent; and if his Department will make an assessment of the merits of using money from that scheme to upgrade relay transmitters. (292938)

£803 million was set aside in the 2007-13 TV licence fee settlement to facilitate digital switchover. We expect there to be an under-spend on the £603 million provided for the Digital Switchover Help Scheme but it is too early to estimate the level of under-spend with any precision. However, as set out in the Digital Britain White Paper, a number of ways the under-spend might be redeployed have been identified. These include contributing to the roll-out of universal broadband; the maintenance of plurality of news in the nations, locally and in the regions; and the roll out of Digital Audio Broadcasting. There are no plans to use the under-spend to increase the coverage of the three commercial digital terrestrial television multiplexes.

There is a licence requirement that the three Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) digital multiplexes, which carry the public service broadcasting channels, should reach 98.5 per cent. of UK households after Digital Switchover. Since the national re-tune, ITV3 and ITV4, which are not PSB channels, have been carried on commercial multiplexes where the licence post-Switchover requirement is that 90 per cent. of household coverage is achieved. Any decision to build out beyond 90 per cent. coverage would be a commercial decision for the multiplex operators.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for what reasons the digital television re-tune of 30 September 2009 resulted in the loss of channels ITV3 and ITV4 by many viewers in the UK. (292940)

The digital re-tune was undertaken by broadcasters to facilitate the move of Five to a Public Service Broadcasting multiplex and to make way for future channel developments, including the introduction of High Definition services on the digital terrestrial television (or Freeview) platform.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether his Department was informed of the loss of ITV3 and ITV4 to many television viewers by (a) Freeview and (b) ITV prior to the digital television re-tune of 30 September 2009. (292941)

The Television Multiplex Services (Reservation of Digital Capacity) Order 2008 required the transfer of one non-public service channel operated by Channel 3 license holders from a public service broadcasting (PSB) multiplex to a commercial multiplex. The aim of this measure was to facilitate the transfer of Five, a PSB channel, to a PSB multiplex in order to ensure universal coverage of Five , equivalent to the other public service channels at switchover, as well as further developments of the digital terrestrial television platform, including the introduction of high definition services.

I was also informed that ITV intended to move another ITV service to one of the commercial multiplexes, which have more restricted coverage, to make way for future channel developments. The decision on which channels to move was a commercial matter for ITV plc.