The BBC has selected the Capita Group Plc (“Capita”) to deliver the digital switchover help scheme in Whitehaven, Cumbria, the first area of the UK to switch over in October 2007.
Subject to contract, Capita will provide help with digital switchover to residents of the Whitehaven area who are eligible for the scheme. Support will be offered to those who are 75 and over, the severely disabled and those who are registered partially-sighted and blind. The support includes:
a help centre located in Whitehaven to provide easy access to information for eligible customers as well as support with any queries or concerns;
the necessary equipment to convert one television set to digital – and support with installation where required; and
follow-up support, where required, once the switchover has taken place.
Zarin Patel, BBC Group Finance Director said: “Following a very competitive tendering process, I am pleased to announce that that this first digital switchover has been awarded to Capita. I am confident that they will deliver a scheme that ensures that the most vulnerable residents of Whitehaven receive the support they need as the switch to digital begins.”
The contract will run for ten months from June 2007 and will cost approximately £1 million.
Capita was selected from a shortlist of four companies – BT, Capita, EAGA and Vertex – all of whom are eligible to continue to bid for the national contract to deliver the Help Scheme for the roll-out across the whole of the UK between 2008 and 2013.
The procurement process for selecting the supplier to deliver the UK-wide help scheme is ongoing, with the contract expected to be awarded at the end of 2007. The scheme will be funded by £600 million, ring-fenced for this purpose in the licence fee settlement.
For further information:
BBC Press Office
Tel. 0208 576 1865
Capita Press Office
Tel: 0870 2400 488
Notes to editors:
The process of digital switchover will take place between 2008 and 2012, TV region by TV region. The exception is Whitehaven in Cumbria which becomes the first place to switch in October 2007.
Switchover is a complicated process and needs to be done in stages so that everyone in the country will be ready for it. The timetable is as follows:
Region Switchover happens in
Border 2008-2009
West Country, Granada 2009
Wales 2009-2010
West, STV North 2010
STV Central 2010-2011
Central, Yorkshire, Anglia 2011
Meridian
, London, Tyne Tees, Ulster 2012
On Wednesday 23 May the BBC Trust agreed that the BBC could take responsibility for delivering the Digital Switchover help scheme.
Peter White will be the Chief Executive Officer of the BBC subsidiary to be set up to manage the delivery of this scheme. Peter has previously worked in a number of senior roles in the BBC, including Operations Director, in the BBC’s new media and technology division, as Director of Financial Operations and as Finance Director for Nations and Regions.