Come October 24, along with tax and death, one other certainty the Irish public can wake up to is that the days of watching TV in homes with a roof-top aerial or ‘rabbits ears’ will be no more. After much toing and froing, the job of switching from analogue to digital through was handed to Saorview and headed up by RTE executive Mary Curtis.

As part of an EU directive, RTE was charged by the Government to deliver a DTT service. Both RTE and commercial interests had pitched for DTT. The Boxer consortium, backed by Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp and BT, won the commercial tender but then pulled out. Second-placed One Vision, with Eircom, TV3 and Setanta, also said no.

As of May 2012, ComReg reports that about seven per cent of the 1.5 million TV homes in the Republic have Irish digital terrestrial television (DTT), aka Saorview. Based on a Nielsen TV audience measurement survey conducted on behalf of TAM Ireland,there are 192,000 homes that only get an analogue signal and they are Saorview’s target audience.

The 192,000 homes – or 12 per cent of the market – was down by 17,000 from 209,000 over the past two years, which ComReg noted in its report was “only” a drop of eight per cent. It is likely that the recession convinced these TV viewers to stick with analogue, rather than hardware upgrades or taking out subscriptions to Sky or UPC.

It is mainly rural dwellers and particularly older folk and people living in Munster that have stayed with analogue. Since taking on the switchover task two years ago, Curtis has developed a multi-faceted campaign to convince people they must go digital if they do not want to be left watching a snowy screen in their sitting room a few months time.

By buying a set-top box for a once-off payment of €60 to €100, or having a Saorview approved TV, viewers can watch RTE One, RTE Two HD, TV3, 3e, TG4, RTE News Now, RTE jr, RTE One + 1 in “crystal clear pictures”, better quality sound” and with a 24/7 on-screen TV guide. Plus they get RTE Aertel and all ten RTE radio channels.

The set-top box is easy to install. Curtis says Saorview’s primary target audience is the 600,000 homes where 300,000 are dependent on an aerial for a signal. The other 300,000 homes have either Sky or UPC (or both) and use an aerial to get a signal, perhaps on a second set. Half of all homes in the Republic have more than one TV.

Then there is a secondary group worth targeting. They are the one million homes that may decide to combine Saorview with Sky or UPC, or just want to avail of the free-to-air digital service. The real task is educating and converting those slower to making the switch – older, less technical, media resistant and those living in remote locations.

For instance, 70 per cent of analogue users live in rural Ireland and 46 per cent are farmers. Half of the 300,000 core target group have a household aged over 55. Seven in ten live in homes with one or two people and two thirds of analogue homes are in the Munster, Connacht and Ulster western seaboard region. So the task is clear.

Apart from the obvious target audience of TV viewers who have stuck with analogue, Saorview had to convince TV brands like Samsung and Sony to manufacture TV sets and set-top boxes to match. By March of last year, both standards had been reached. By March this year, both brands were available for purchase, along with a combi box.

FUN SWITCH-OFF MESSAGE Mary Curtis, director of digital switchover, RTE, alongside the Tommy and PJ cartoon characters created by Red Rage for the Saorview advertising campaign developed by Cawley Nea/TBWA and Vizeum. Arekibo was responsible for the digital strategy.

A series of retail weeks targeting TV stockists were staged. Different parts of the south, west and north western seaboard have been targeted, supported by local press and radio. Advertising has been handled by Cawley Nea/TBWA and Vizeum.
A four-part plan was produced, starting with the rationale behind Saorview, Ireland’s free DTT service.

The EU set out a mandate to explain clearly to the public the need to switch to digital by October. The second phase of the advertising campaign was to focus on the service, the channels available and the benefits of making the switch. Next came conversion information and explaining what consumers need to do in order to be ready for digital.

The third phase, underway now, is the final countdown – the call to action. Curtis and her team have lobbied business interests, community groups and public representatives. They have met with embassy staff, hotel owners and canvassed at major events like the Young Scientist Exhibition, the Ploughing Championships, the Ideal Homes show and Bloom.

Curtis joined RTE in 1990 as a researcher. She became a programme producer/director and launched the Off the Rails fashion show. She was director of programmes when she was asked to manage the digital switchover. Like a swan, she exudes a calm and graceful exterior, whether or not there is much frantic paddling below the surface only she knows.

Tracking studies showed prompted awareness of Saorview had gone from 35 per cent in May 2011 to 85 per cent by this April. Prompted awareness of the switchover (ASO) was up from 57 per cent to 82 per cent in the same time period. Curtis says awareness levels for both Saorview and ASO were highest among older people, farmers and aerial users.

The research by Ipsos mrbi shows that TV has worked best for messaging, with 88 per cent of people pointing to the TV ads with the Tommy and PJ dog and cat cartoon characters. Family, friends and word of mouth were mentioned by 51 per cent, which Curtis says is an indication the push for ASO has earned a firm fix on the public radar.

The Arekibo agency’s digital strategy is designed to ensure saorview.ie has a continuous presence on the RTE website. A call centre caters for people with ASO queries. Leaflets have been dropping in doors in recent months with Gay Byrne on the latest cover urging homeowners to “get ready” for the TV switch-off on October 24 and others are planned.

The Comreg report indicates that digital TV is close to home but has not quite done the distance yet. Ownership of personal video recorders (PVRs), like the Sky + box or the UPC dvr, continues to increase, but at a slower pace than before. PVR penetration was at 43 per cent in May, up by just 12 per cent over the last three years.

The roll-out of catch-up services like the RTE Player has meant a decrease in demand for DVD players, a part of the TV market which has dropped by six per cent in the last two years. Ownership of games consoles is up three per cent to 38 per cent of homes over the last two years, with smartphones and tablets filling the space.

Getting the Saorview and ASO message across, Curtis is conscious of the need to keep things simple. When it comes to technology, the audience extends from indifference at one end to apathy on the other. Curtis is working with the likes of the ICA, Age Action, Vincent de Paul and the main churches to convince the 300,000 aerial users to switch.

Saorsat was launched to target the two per cent of homes that have no hope of accessing a digital signal. RTE’s transmissions and network subsidiary, RTE NL, assured the D