"I watched the snooker finish and then the screen went blank," says Ford Ennals, recalling the historic moment at 2am last Wednesday when digital switchover began.
Throughout Whitehaven, insomniac viewers lost BBC2 as the first strike in the massive roll-out of analogue switch-off made itself felt. Then, just 37 minutes later, those who had heeded the huge public awareness campaign and bought set-top boxes, saw the screen flicker to life again as The Learning Zone began broadcasting on digital.
As chief executive of Digital UK, the consortium owned and funded by broadcasters, including the BBC and ITV, Ennals is charged with overseeing the whole shebang - the engineering, marketing, implementation and awareness campaign to ensure that digital switchover is completed by 2012.
Much has been made in the news of the implications for consumers - has the Government allocated sufficient assistance for disadvantaged viewers, for example - but what of the impact on broadcasters and the advertising community?
As an ex-marketer himself, Ennals is well placed to appreciate the ramifications for the industry of such a vast shift in the TV landscape and the changes in the UK's viewing habits that will inevitably ensue.
Surprising admission
The broadcasters, he notes, seem well prepared for the new era, but he is less convinced about clients' and agencies' position - a surprising admission from an ex-advertiser.
"My career has been as a marketer and advertiser - my personal observation is that everything is changing in TV and I don't get the sense when I look to agencies and advertisers that they fully understand the magnitude," he says.
"Broadcasters are very focused on content, on giving the right programming to those audiences. They recognise the level of fragmentation and are doing a heck of a job. Look at Channel 4, the BBC and ITV in terms of developing new channel brands and extending franchises - they've done an outstanding job. Their commercial partners could do more to find opportunities there as well."
What will happen, he observes, is an erosion of share on traditional channels, with viewers being picked up by the digital portfolio.
"Advertisers have to look at Freeview channels and decide how much revenue to deploy on digital channels - and it needs to be a much bigger proportion," he says.
"They need to understand the audience better in terms of demographics and viewing habits. There will be fewer mass-reach opportunities, but more targeted ones."
Interactivity, through red button, is one such chance, Ennals notes. Switchover will double the number of people using interactivity, he claims, with the prospect of improved measurement systems and more sophisticated technology allowing advertisers to "know what you're getting for your money".
One of the biggest concerns must be that a less-than-perfect execution would mean swathes of households unable to receive a digital signal and no longer part of the TV-watching world.
On this, Ennals is unequivocal: there will be a more robust signal, he says - twice its current strength, throughout the country - and more people than ever before will have access to a range of digital channels on the Freeview platform - 40 channels in most cases, but a minimum of 20.
Indeed, the whole rationale of the project is to widen access.
"Simply put, it's about fairness," he explains. "Some 73% of the population can get Freeview, 27% can't - those people are paying for digital services through the BBC licence fee, but don't get them. The whole intent is to make every household able to get them."
Total conversion
Of course, that depends on consumers buying the right equipment, but again Ennals is unflinchingly confident that "everyone will convert", even low-income households, despite having to fork out for a box for each individual TV.
"Low-income households value entertainment and spend a disproportionate amount of income on it," he claims. "There's a cost involved and that's an issue, but the good news is we've seen the cost of equipment spiralling downwards, which has really helped.
"People have assumed everyone's gone digital, but 32 million TVs are still analogue. We're going to see an explosion as 100% go digital - it will change the way people watch and advertisers need to be thinking about the impact on the market."
While it's "too early to draw fast conclusions", Ennals insists that so far the Whitehaven roll-out has gone smoother than even he could have dared hoped and that the project is "very on track".
"It's been frantic, but we're excited about the project," he says. "It's important and valuable work. All the broadcasters have embraced digital TV as part of the future vision - no one is trying to hold onto the past."
CV
2005: Chief executive, Digital UK
2002: Managing director, Universal Group Direct 1996 Group marketing director, Lloyds TSB 1995 Marketing director, British Airways 1991 Senior vice-president, worldwide marketing, Reebok 1982 Marketing manager, rising to brands director, Mars.