She will cover government plans to provide a subsidy to elderly and disabled people to purchase digital receivers, but it is not believed she will go into detail about the financing of the scheme. It is expected that the BBC licence fee will be an important source of funds.
The Conservatives sought to pressure the government over fears that many people will suffer a TV blackout when their analogue signal is switched off because they will not be able to afford the necessary equipment, which in some cases will mean getting new aerials.
Shadow culture secretary Theresa May and John Whittingdale, the Tory chairman of the cross-party Commons culture committee, referred to the 2012 Olympics to make their point.
"If analogue switch-off doesn't work, there are going to be an awful lot of angry people out there who find they are not going to be able to watch the Olympics. It's a huge leap of faith that when you turn off the analogue signal those people who currently can't get Freeview will be able to receive it," Whittington told the Financial Times.
Digital TV is now in 63% of households, according to Ofcom's estimate for the end of June, with Freeview the fastest-growing platform. A survey estimated that the digital switchover could cost consumers £1bn.
The switchover process will be conducted by ITV regions, with the Border region first in 2008 and Ulster last in 2012. Two Welsh villages, Ferryside and Llansteffan in Carmarthenshire, have already moved to a digital-only signal after a pilot project earlier this year.
The wording of Jowell's speech has been leaked to the press. She is expected to say: "Digital television is no longer a probability, it's a certainty, and I believe it can leave us with a legacy of more choice for more choice for more people than anywhere else in the world.
"For the first time, everyone in this country will by 2012 have the same access to digital television: no more rural communities effectively cut off from the media world the rest of us inhabit, the disabled pensioner having the same access to digital as the City broker."
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