Family adapts to digital TV dawn

John Brenan has installed a new aerial upstairs

After months of preparation, the Brenan family from Whitehaven witnessed the analogue signal's switch-off at their home in the Cumbrian town.

John Brenan, his partner Janice Curwen, and children Ben, 17 and Kim, 15, have Sky TV, but their three other sets picked up only analogue signals.

They talk about what has changed since BBC Two's analogue signal disappeared in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

ON THE CHANGES YOU NOTICED THIS MORNING

John:

We've got satellite television downstairs, but obviously for the other televisions upstairs we will have to have set-top boxes. We've only bought one to see if it's going to work.

So when we got up this morning we plugged the set-top box in and tuned it in to see what channels we had, because we yesterday we only had one channel, channel five. I think that was a test channel.

This morning we switched it on, and I think there was about six or seven channels, but I think there are more to be added to that.

Janice:

At the moment it looks cluttered, is a dust trap and a eyesore Janice Curwen on the proliferation of boxes

The only thing I feel different about is that we have new equipment upstairs. Our new aerial arrived yesterday and John was in the loft trying to put that up in the dark last night.

I don't feel any different about the TV downstairs because we have had Sky for more than a decade. It's normal to us, it's not like a massive revelation to us.

Ben:

I haven't got my digital signal sorted in my bedroom yet so I haven't noticed any difference, but we are planning to fix that today. My mum and dad have bought me a new digi box which was about £30.

I don't really know what's changing and what's happening though. All I know is I'm going to get more channels in my bedroom so it's a good thing, although I don't really know what I'm getting yet, I just know there's going to be a lot more choice for me in my bedroom, so I'm happy about that. On Sky I mainly watch the music channels and sport.

ON THE COLLECTION OF BOXES IN THE SITTING ROOM

Kim, 17, says she failed to notice the switchover campaign

Janice:

Personally I would prefer something a bit more compact and something a bit more condensed. Look at the iPods and things like that, you've got all that information and facilities crammed in this tiny little handpiece.

At the moment it looks cluttered, it's a dust trap and a eyesore. Upstairs we recently bought a small 15" plasma screen with built-in Freeview and a DVD. Our two teenagers have TVs in their rooms but are not able to use them because we haven't got the cables sorted out yet.

ON UNDERSTANDING WHAT HAS HAPPENED

Kim:

Not really, Mum and Dad have sorted it all out. I don't have a clue. I haven't really noticed the ad campaign over the last two years, it is only the last month I have really.

I've got a TV in my room, but is hasn't been set up yet with a digi box. Mum and Dad were only going to buy one at first to see if it worked or not because they don't want to spend too much money if it doesn't.

ON THE DIGITAL UK CAMPAIGN

John:

It started about two years ago and I think we had leaflets in newspapers and small adverts on the TV saying it was going to change. But because we had Sky we didn't really take much notice of it.

It's only in the last few days when all the journalists and camera crews arrived that we thought we needed to change something. So bought a set top box for one of the televisions upstairs.

We could spend maybe £150 or £200. It is a lot of money but we've got to do it. We don't really use the TVs upstairs that much, but they're always there if we need to use them. If we've got to spend money, we've got to spend money, that's it.