We can't believe that anyone would really want to buy an old analogue set with the impeding digital switchover months away (okay, months if you are a sheep farmer in Cumbria). The group behind making sure that we all have tellies that do more than show a blizzard come 2012 has unveiled a set of measures to increase the supply of digital televisions and set-top boxes ahead of the switchover.

The Digital Switchover Supply Chain Group (DSSCG), which represents companies such as Currys, Comet, Tesco, Sony and Panasonic,build up the number of Digital TVs including the small ones for bedrooms and the kids as well as stop selling old analogue TV equipment in each region in the 12 months leading up to switchover in that area-or bundling its sale with a digital reception solution such as a digital set-top box or digital TV recorder. It said it would also inform customers that analogue sets will require conversion at switchover and label all digital equipment with the 'digital tick' indicating it will work before, during and after switchover. It would also phase out the sale of non-digital recorders, including analogue DVD recorders.

According to figures from the DSSCG,the first seven months of 2007 saw UK consumers purchase more than 4m televisions. Almost nine out of ten (89 per cent) larger sets bought had digital tuners built in, while 1.9m smaller screen sets - under 26-inches - were sold during the same period, of which 85 per cent were analogue. In the recorder market, 1.4m items have been sold so far this year, 64 per cent of which were analogue. Danny Churchill, co-chairman of the Digital Switchover Supply Chain Group, said that the group has already seen a rapid transformation in the market for larger, flat screen televisions, the vast majority of which are now digital.

"The moves we are announcing today will further benefit consumers by continuing that transformation across the full range of television and recording equipment," he said.

Ford Ennals, chief executive of Digital UK, the digital switchover coordination body, said: "It's good to see the electrical industry joining forces to make such a positive contribution to preparing the UK for switchover. Consumers need a full range of digital products to choose from and clear labeling to ensure that any purchase is made in the full knowledge that analogue TV will soon be a thing of the past."

Of course, most people still don't seem to realise that now would be a good time to get a decent new TV aerial to stop all those click and mosiacs you get with a digital TV signal that is a bit ropey.