THE REGION'S television sets will be rendered useless - unless they are hooked up to a set-top box - from 2010, the industry regulator confirmed last night.

The Government plans to turn off the country's analogue transmitters by 2012.

Televisions that don't have a set-top box - either a Freeviewer decoder, a cable box or a Sky box - won't be capable of receiving programmes.

Industry regulator Ofcom said the last analogue transmitters in North Yorkshire would be scrapped in 2010. The Tyne Tees area will go off in 2011.

Digital signals only reach 73 per cent of UK households. Many of the more remote parts of the North-East cannot use Freeview boxes.

Although the Government has pledged to boost the signal, that will not be possible until analogue broadcasts are shut down.

The limited broadcast signal also means more channels cannot join the Freeview line- up without further degrading signal strength.

Each region will take six months to make the switch, giving households time to change to digital cable, terrestrial or satellite.

The update, which follows research into the technical constraints of switch-over, shows the process could be completed by the end of 2012.

An independent report last year said the Government needed to spend up to £400m helping society's most vulnerable make the switch to digital television.

The plan has been submitted to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Ofcom said: "The Government will confirm the timetable for switch-over once all of the remaining issues are resolved and the interests of consumers, especially the most vulnerable, are well protected."

Published: 10/02/2005