When being used to describe television or radio broadcasts, the term ‘digital’ refers to the way the signal you are receiving is being broadcast. In other words, the image you receive on your television screen or through your radio can be broadcast from the television or radio station in a particular way – when referred to as ‘digital’, the signal that you are receiving has been digitally compressed at the station, and must be decoded by a specific piece of hardware (a set-top box, for example), before you can view or hear it. Currently the most widely used transmission method is still ‘analog’, the precursor to digital broadcasting.
Presently, many countries around the world are offering dual transmission services, referred to as simulcast services. What this means is that the television or radio station you receive is transmitted in both digital and analog. As many people are yet to make the move to digital, it has been deemed necessary to run both sorts of transmission services until the numbers of digital users have improved. Having said this, there are now several countries within Europe who have made the switch to digital television completely – they include Luxembourg, Sweden and Switzerland. Within the United Kingdom, regions are making the switch slowly, and it is not until 2012 that the last regions are expected to turn over to digital. Due to the simulcast service operated by most channels within the UK, you can make the switch early if you decide the benefits outweigh the hassle.