Recession forces consumers to hang on to old TVs

Thursday, Mar 05, 2009

As digital switchover continues in the UK, TVonics, the British digital switchover specialist is selling more set-top boxes than ever as UK viewers avoid the expense of new digital televisions and upgrade their old TVs instead. Since the start of the year sales of its MDR-250 digital TV receiver, the only set-top box given full marks by Digital UK, have beaten targets by over 100%. 

The TVonics MDR-250 converts any TV and can be connected either through the standard SCART socket, or be plugged straight into any television’s aerial. The rocketing sales follow the announcement last month of continued growth in the Freeview subscription free television service and reflect recent research* indicating that one in five plans to curtail spending on pay TV channels.

Nicola Wrench, marketing manager at TVonics comments; “The credit crunch means people are staying in more at the moment so we aren’t surprised sales of a product like this have risen, but we didn’t expect it to have done as well as it has. It goes to show that even in these tough times, consumers are still looking for quality products they can trust to work after switchover, and that will provide more entertainment at home with no subscription costs.”

Until now the MDR-250 has been available exclusively to www.tvonics.com but consumers are now able to pick one up from John Lewis, and it will be coming to the 250 nationwide Comet stores soon. The MDR-250 will cost from £49.00 and is certified by the Energy Savings Trust meaning consumers can do their bit for the environment too.

-Ends-

Notes to editors

·         * Continental Research, August 2008

·         The TVonics MDR-250 was named Which? Best Buy in October, 2008

·         The Digital UK scoreboard is a consumer checklist which highlights the usability, connectivity and energy efficiency of digital switchover products or appliances

Press contacts

Katharine Simon or Julie Walsh for TVonics

Babel PR

Tel: 020 7434 5550

Email: tvonics@babelpr.com

Web: www.babelpr.com

Consumer friendly features of the MDR-250 are as follows:

·         Energy efficient:

o    Meets the requirements of the Energy Savings Trust (the industry body that provides advice on and encourages household energy efficiency)

o    Frugal on power consumption using no more than 2.0W in standby, and only 5.8W in operation

o    Ensures long term trouble-free operation of the electronic components meaning the MDR-250 should last the lifetime of the television set it converts

·         Ease of use:

o    Connect the set-top box either through the standard SCART socket, or straight into any television’s aerial for immediate use

·         Simply upgrade:

o    Converting even the oldest analogue television sets is made easy

o    The TVonics auto-tune function tunes into a spare channel and detects the available digital TV services in the area, removing the need for manual tuning

·         Feature packed:

§  Digital text

§  An eight-day on-screen TV guide

§  Subtitles

§  Audio-description for those who are blind or partially sighted

§  On-screen TV guide

§  Auto re-tune

About TVonics

TVonics is a British privately owned independent design and manufacturing company specialising in the digital television sector. The company focuses on delivering easy to use, energy efficient digital TV receivers and recorders for the UK and European digital television markets.

Formed in 2004 and based in South Wales, TVonics has a design team with more than 60 man-years experience in the design and manufacture of digital set top boxes and televisions. The management of TVonics also has a strong background in digital television semiconductor device design and application development, and is well versed in high quality, mass-market design techniques. 

About Freeview

Freeview is a simple way to get great digital television for free. The line-up includes over 40 popular TV channels, including E4, BBC Three, ITV2, CBeebies and Film4, as well as over 20 digital radio stations - all delivered through a rooftop aerial.  Freeview is received through a digital box, digital TV recorder or digital TV, with no strings attached and no monthly subscription.  Freeview is currently available in around three out of four UK homes (some homes will require an aerial upgrade to receive Freeview).

Digital UK is the independent, not-for-profit organisation established in 2005 to lead the implementation of digital switchover. It is jointly owned and funded by the public-service broadcaster.

 

Source: Babel PR