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This means that anyone with an analogue TV won't be able to watch the Olympics which will be held in London that year. The spectrum frequencies used by analogue television broadcasts are to be sold off for other use, and terrestrial television will henceforth be available only to digital viewers.

Some areas have already deserted analogue broadcasts. Earlier this year two Welsh villages were the first to make the switch in a pilot to uncover any potential hurdles a broader change might encounter.

Considered a success, the analogue signals will now be turned off by ITV regions, starting with the Borders ITV region in 2008.

Ms Jowell is expected to outline a series of aid packages for those on low incomes and the vulnerable to subsidise the provision of set-top boxes. Funding for this is believed to come from BBC licence fees. The Guardian reports that some 38 per cent of the UK has yet to move to digital.

A body known as SwitchCo has also been set up to oversee the switchover.

Ms Jowell is expected to make her announcements next Wednesday, when she is due to speak at the Royal Television Society convention in Cambridge.