The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover or analogue switch-off, is the process in which

analog television broadcastingis converted to and replaced by digital television. This primarily involves the

conversion of analogue terrestrial television to digital terrestrial. However, it also involves analogue cable

conversion to digital cable, as well as analogue to digital satellite.

In many countries, a simulcast service is operated where a broadcast is made available to viewers in both

analog and digital at the same time. As digital becomes more popular, it is likely that the existing analogue

services will be removed. In some cases this has already happened, where a broadcaster has offered

incentives to viewers to encourage them to switch to digital. In other cases government policies have been

introduced to encourage or force the switchover process, especially with regard to terrestrial broadcasts.

Government intervention usually involves providing some funding for broadcasters and, in some cases

monetary relief to viewers, to enable a switchover to happen by a given deadline.

The switchover for individual countries varies; in some countries it is being implemented in stages as

in India and the United Kingdom, where each region has a separate date to switch off. In others,

the whole country switches on one date, such as the Netherlands, which switched off all analog services

on 11 December 2006.