Five locals living in black and white

Five tv viewers in the Banbridge area are still living in a black and white world.

Saturday (July1) marked 50 years since the first colour transmission on the BBC, but new figures from TV Licensing reveal more than 8,000 homes across the UK still enjoy programmes in black and white.

The TV Licensing B&W Index1 published shows more than 600 homes in Northern Ireland watching in black and white and five viewers in Banbridge. Almost 70 postcodes dropped out of the Index in the past 18 months, including Augher and Donaghadee, as entire suburbs convert to full-colour viewing. A further 313 postcodes across the UK boast a sole black and white viewer in their community.

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Karen Grimason, TV Licensing spokesperson, said: “It is striking that in an era of HD TV and spectacular true-to-life pictures, there are still more than 8,000 viewers, including five in Banbridge, content to watch spectacular programmes like The Night Manager and Planet Earth in monochrome.

“Whether you watch in black and white on a 50-year-old TV set or in colour on a tablet, you need to be covered by a TV Licence to watch or record programmes as they are broadcast.

You also need to be covered by a TV Licence to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer, on any device.”

While the figures reveal there may be life in the oldest TV equipment yet, BBC statistics indicate emerging technologies are changing the way many of us watch TV.

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Fewer than 500 families had a colour TV set in 1967 when Australian John Newcombe took the Wimbledon Mens’ title in 1967. More than 9 million people tuned in to watch Andy Murray contest the title last year,