The elderly and foreign-speaking Londoners were among those who received extra assistance during the switch to Digital TV.

A contact center located in North East England – in Sunderland – handled the calls from Digital UK – as 4.8 million households in London switched to digital TV.

Doxford International-based 2Touch was one of five partners selected by MGt to handle the calls.

“It was exciting to be part of such an important and milestone event for the UK television industry and work in partnership with a number of other contact centres across the UK,” 2Touch managing director Stuart Gray was quoted by the Sunderland Echo newspaper. “For many people, the switchover was a relatively simple task and there was plenty of advice on-line and through other sources, to allow the public to manage the change.”

But many of the customers needed assistance, especially residents of London who recently moved to the United Kingdom, the newspaper said. Many of these residents have a primary language other than English. The elderly customers also had some challenges in making the switch to digital, the newspaper added.

To make the transition work effectively, 2Touch employed a core team of staff for two months. On two switchover days there were over 100 employees assisting customers.

“MGt provided us with strong guidance and support and their key people, who we were delighted to welcome on site throughout the handover days, were very encouraging of our teams,” Gray added. “They ensured our agents were fully briefed and had all the information they required to assist the public.”

Digital UK is an independent, not-for-profit organization, which is leading the switch to digital TV in the United Kingdom.

It provides consumers information on how to prepare for the switch to digital TV, and when they need to do it. Digital TV was set up by public broadcasters. It is owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, five and S4C, according to the organization’s website.

In related news, TMCnet reported in December that the analogue TV signal in both Northern Ireland and the RoI will be switched off in October 2012.  Dalzells of Markethill, a TV supplier, warned that the lack of awareness could result in viewers losing their favorite television programs, TMCnet added.

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