PEOPLE in Cumbria will soon be losing their analogue TV signal.

But residents in Swindon don't need to worry too much - the totally digital age is still some way off still.

About 25,000 households in the Whitehaven area of western Cumbria will be the first to have the old analogue signal switched off from October 17 this year. BBC2 will be the first channel to go, with the remaining analogue channels going off air on November 14.

All residents in that area will need some form of digital TV by that date, with the whole of the UK to follow by the end of 2012.

Already, 79 per cent of UK homes have digital, but here in Swindon, it is not as clear cut.

Residents in the town need to be ready by 2010, but Digital TV websites suggest that only a few areas in the town can actually receive terrestrial digital TV - through a Freeview Box or through a modern TV with a Freeview tuner.

Mike Symonds, of Swindon-based electrical retailer Hickmans, which has a store in Victoria Road, said: "Many people across the town have already made the change to digital, mostly through Freeview boxes. Others are using satellite systems and others have gone for more modern high definition television which carries four times the amount of information, giving you a better quality picture.

"The problem is that many websites and phone lines will say many postcodes in the town won't be able to get a terrestrial TV signal, and in some cases that is true, unless you use a satellite.

"But many people can get a Freeview signal despite what those organisations say.

"The best thing people can do is speak to their neighbours and friends. Some retailers like ourselves will give full refunds to customers who buy a digital box but find that it doesn't work in their area.

"Alternatively, see if you can borrow a box from family or friends to see if it will work. But the situation will improve the closer we get to the switch off."

Whitehaven's residents were chosen because they have demonstrated a higher than average awareness of digital switchover, according to the Government.

Anyone who has not switched to digital by the end of 2012 date will be faced with a blank TV screen.