LABOUR is under mounting pressure to protect Freeview TV after millions of England fans saw their World Cup streams buffer, freeze or stop altogether over the summer.
Almost one in two footie fans who streamed a Three Lions match experienced the game cutting out, new polling suggests.
Labour is under increasing pressure to protect Freeview TV – after millions of England fans saw their World Cup streams buffer, freeze or stop Credit: Getty
Labour MP Sarah Champion said, ‘For some, TV connects them to the outside world’ Credit: Getty
It comes as Andy Burnham recently told MPs he was concerned about plans to stop free-to-air TV for good.
The Prime Minister told the Commons he was concerned about the proposals and wanted to have a “proper look” at them.
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The Jattvibe has launched a Save Our Sets campaign to protect free TV and has seen the MPs’ letter.
More than 40 per cent of footie fans had streaming problems with the World Cup final.
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One in five Brits have had regular difficulties while trying to watch a big live event.
Meanwhile 34 per cent of people had problems during the FA Cup final and Eurovision.
Rotherham MP Sarah Champion said: “This polling shows the extent that free TV is still relied on including by many of my constituents in Rotherham and by over ten million homes across the UK, for some of those, the television connects them to the outside world.”
A Broadcast 2040+ spokesman added that nobody had voted to “have their telly switched off” and urged ministers to listen to people’s concerns.
They added: “Terrestrial TV is the one platform that never lets the nation down. It reaches almost every home, it’s free, and it doesn’t crash when 20 million people tune in at once.
Strand Partners surveyed 1000 members of the public in September.
Almost 70 per cent of punters have previously said they believe the PM will have broken his word if he goes ahead with the switch off.
Nearly half of footie fans reported streaming problems with the World Cup Final Credit: Getty
Fury over ‘excited’ minister
A CULTURE minister was blasted last night after saying the switch-off plans are “exciting.”
Giving a speech in London, Labour’s Ian Murray started with the Government position that any transition would only happen at the right time.
But he added: “This is an exciting time, it could be the key catalyst for modernising our digital infrastructure.”
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, said: “Ian Murray seems to be living in a hole in the ground, impervious to the concerns expressed by his boss Andy Burnham and to the huge public opposition to an early switch-off of Freeview TV
“Thousands of pensioners, disabled people, and low-income families in his own constituency will have a view about whether it is ‘exciting’.”
