Viewers in the small Carmarthenshire towns of Ferryside (Glan-Y-Fferi) and Llansteffan served by the Ferryside relay, which had been in service since November 1985, were chosen to help spearhead research into Digital Switchover.
At the end of 2004 the relay was equipped to provide the four primary DTT multiplexes and after a three month period, in which all local residents were given Freeview boxes, three of the four analogue services from this site were switched off at midnight on 30-Mar-2005, the first site for this to happen.
Due to the differing content of the BBC2W digital service, the BBC2 analogue service remained available from Ferryside until 19-Aug-2009 when it closed down as part of the DSO process at Presely. Unusually for a small relay, Ferryside continues to transmit the SDN mux, even though the original reason was that Channel 5 was transmitted on this multiplex at the time of the trial in 2004. |