Daily Mail fumes at digital switchover

The Liberal-Tory coalition's decision to carry on with the planned 2015 date of digital switch-off for analogue radio hasn't made the Daily Mail happy. In fact, the Mail has gone into full-on meltdown panic:

Around 20 per cent of all radio listening happens in cars but only 1 per cent of all cars currently have the capability to receive digital stations.

Well, yes. The idea of a switch-off date is supposed to drive take-up of digital radio. Do you need a sit down, Daily Mail? You look a little red...

Motorists will either have to replace their car radios at a cost of some £300 or buy special ‘conversion’ kits that must be attached to the windscreen, often alongside Satnavs, which could also cost more than £100.

Not alongside Satnavs, surely? That's terrible.

Naturally, you can actually pick up a proper DAB radio for half the cost cited by the Mail, and while the adaptors could cost more than a hundred quid, you'd be an idiot if you paid more than fifty.

DAB sets for the home cost from £20 for a basic radio to £200 for waterproof, rechargeable versions that can be used outside.

And, doubtless, the government will insist we buy waterproof ones - political health and safety having gone mad.

The plans will hit motorists and pensioners hardest but most ordinary homes have two or three radios – and the expense of replacing them all will mount up for everyone.

It's not entirely clear why pensioners will be hit harder than anyone else - perhaps they'll be forced to buy two radios.

There's a pretty strong case for not switching off FM, certainly not yet, but the Mail fails totally to even approach the case. (And no, Mr. Dacre, saying 'it's hard to get a DAB signal on Snowdon' isn't the case you're looking for, either.)

Nor is this:

every household will have to own either a digital radio or have a TV in the next five years.

Imagine that - every household in the country with a TV. It's a mad dream, isn't it?