Get with the programme

Flicking through Telegraph Select, a catalogue of “lifestyle solutions for readers of The Daily Telegraph” I can tell that I am not its target customer. From the grandly titled “Revolutionary mother and child lamp” whose deluxe model comes with a remote control to “Shoes so comfortable, they could be slippers” it’s easy to work out the demographic it is aiming at. But whilst I can appreciate a need for many of the products and the benefits they might bring, one item strikes me as completely redundant. Can you think who might need the “TV and radio antenna” after digital switchover in the next few months? Is this Telegraph Select's last-ditch effort to shift stock that will be obsolete in less than a year? Yes, you can get radio on it too, but what radio these days doesn’t come with an AM/FM aerial? And if the built-in antenna is useless I’m sure you could pick one up for less than a tenner. For £12.99 you might as well splash out on a DAB radio (prices start at £14.99 for clock radios, I hear).
The question now is Telegraph Select, where is your range of antique-effect digital radios then?—MT

Switchover savvy

Digital switchover is coming. And in our sleepy little town it’s coming on 1st July, or so I’ve heard. Is my TV ready for it? Seems that Argos has the answer.

The home and electricals retailer is getting the most out of the impending changeover to a digital TV signal by sending an email that not only promotes its latest digital TV offers but also goes some way to explain how switching needn’t be another thing to stress about.

Here Argos takes a gentler approach. There’s no hard sell. Reassuringly, the email looks like it’s affiliated with Digital UK, the independent organisation leading the process of digital TV switchover. It links back to the Digital UK website as well as to more information on freesat, the BBC’s subscription-free service. Also reassuring is that there’s no scaremongering. No threats that I won’t be able to watch my favourite programmes unless I take up Argos’s digital TV offers. In fact, the email even says that I may be able to continue watching my telly after switchover without taking any further action. Phew!

By being the first retailer to send me such an email—and making it a good one—Argos has its foot in the door. So if I were looking to replace any televisions in my house, this email may have just convinced me that it’s easy with Argos.--MT