The Government is consulting on the future of Terrestrial Television, known as Freeview. It has set out two options – switching off the service in 2034, or extending it to 2044.

This is a choice between protecting a universal, free-to-air service used by millions of households, or forcing people to pay for high speed fixed broadband simply to watch television. There is a credible costed, low risk plan to continue Terrestrial TV to the mid 2040s, with no ongoing cost to the taxpayer and reduces costs to broadcasters, while allowing online services to continue to grow.

I’ve written to the Government backing the 2044 option and to rule out a 2034 switch off, making it clear that a rushed change would disproportionately affect older and disabled people.