Monochrome still preferred despite turn-off of last analogue TV signal last year – but licence fee almost £100 cheaper

In an era when TV viewers can watch in high definition and 3D on giant flatscreens spanning their living room walls, the dizzying rate of technological change has not been welcomed by everyone.

New figures from the television licensing authority have revealed that more than 13,000 households in the UK are still watching in black and white, 46 years after the first regular colour broadcasts began on BBC2.

The penchant for monochrome prevails despite the switch to digital with the turn-off of the last analogue TV signal, in Northern Ireland, on 24 October last year.

Black and white does have one advantage however; a black and white TV licence costs just £49, compared with £145.50 for its colour TV equivalent. This may be little consolation, however, if you are trying to watch the snooker.

Black and white TV owners will still have to pay a full colour licence, however, if they own a computer, tablet or smartphone, on which they can watch video-on-demand on platforms such as the BBC's iPlayer, or have a personal video recorder able to receive and record programmes in colour.

The number of people with licences for black and white TVs has steadily declined, from 212,000 at the turn of the century to fewer than 50,000 in 2006. By the beginning of 2013, it had fallen to 13,202.

A spokesman for TV Licensing, the body that the BBC contracts to collect the fee, said the figure was "remarkable" in the digital-only era.

Iain Logie Baird, associate curator at the National Media Museum in Bradford – and grandson of the inventor of television, John Logie Baird – said the enduring appeal of black and white television was not only financial.

"There is a subsidy for people who still have black and white sets to keep using them, but there is a sense of nostalgia as well," he said.

"The National Media Museum has hundreds of black and white television sets in its collection and I'm not surprised that people are still using them.

"The cabinets on many of these are 'retro' in their design, making them conversation pieces even when they aren't switched on. It's a bit like owning an antique car.

"But perhaps most importantly, the television set has acted as a family gathering place in the home for decades now, well entrenched in our culture, and for a few who appreciate this fact, the old set can still hold a deep sentimental value."

Television and radio technology historian John Trenouth said: "Although 13,202 monochrome licences may sound a lot, it's now a tiny percentage of the 25 million licensed viewers in the UK.

"The numbers of black and white TV sets in regular use has fallen dramatically over the last few years, hastened by the fact that it's now almost impossible to replace them and by the need to buy a suitable set top box to continue to use them after digital switchover.

"There will always be a small number of users who prefer monochrome images, don't want to throw away a working piece of technology or collect old TV sets."

Baird is not averse to the new technology. "I have a very big HD projector which I project onto the wall of my living room," he said. "I also own a cathode ray colour set from 1970, which even though not HD, is extremely watchable."

Top 10 UK cities with most black and white TV licences



1. London – 2,715

2. Birmingham – 574

3. Manchester – 413

4. Glasgow – 256

5. Liverpool – 185

6. Leeds – 183

7. Bristol – 180

8. Nottingham – 161

9. Belfast – 143

10. Sheffield – 118

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