DTT (digital terrestrial television) also known as Freeview is not yet available to all viewers yet, however, people ringing the broadcast telephone number for reception advice are being told it is available, provided they upgrade their aerial.

But in many cases even the best standard available aerials do not give acceptable performance and they are unlikely to, until standard analogue TV is turned off sometime in the future, when the DTT transmission power levels can be turned up without affecting normal TV.

However, people shopping for a Freeview receiver after getting an 'OK reception' message are being told that the store will refuse to refund the purchase price of the Freeview set-top box if the reception service says that the postcode of the purchaser is covered. Local stores generally know which areas have reception problems so the policy is being used either to avoid problematic installations and returns or to persuade customers to purchase more expensive satellite systems.

Worse still, rural viewers are unlikely to have cable TV available and more likely to be unable to receive DTT presently. Currently then, they have no choice but to pay for Satellite system. The store salesmen know this but don't tell the customer that DTT power levels will be increased when analogue TV is turned off and further pressurise the customer into buying Satellite TV by saying the government will turn off the old TV system as soon as 2006.