“More than 120,000 households may be eligible for a HD set-top box to be installed in their home free of charge by a qualified government contracted installer,” Senator Conroy says.

“Potentially eligible people in Gippsland, Goulburn Valley, North Central Victoria and South West Victoria switchover regions will now start to receive letters from Centrelink inviting them to participate in the Scheme.”

Under the Household Assistance Scheme, eligible households will at no cost:

Receive a HD set-top box
Have the set-top box installed and its operation demonstrated
Have any necessary cabling, antenna or satellite dish upgrades performed, where eligible.

A person will be eligible for the scheme where they do not already have access to digital TV and they are in receipt of the maximum rate of the:

Age Pension
Disability Support Pension
Carer Payment
Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Service Pension, or
DVA income-support supplement payment.

“The regional Victoria switchover areas are to switch to digital-only TV on 5 May 2011 and people will have until 5 June 2011, one month after switchover, to opt into the Scheme,” Senator Conroy says.

“More than 10,000 households across Mildura, regional South Australia and Broken Hill have already been helped to make the switch to digital TV through the Scheme.”

Applications for the Household Assistance Scheme can be made by calling 1800 55 64 43 between 8.00am and 5.00pm (local time), Monday to Friday.