A regional daily has taken a chief executive to task in its own office as part of a campaign to help tens of thousands of households currently without a television signal.

The Northern Echo exclusively interviewed Arqiva CEO Paul Donovan during a visit to the newspaper’s Darlington headquarters, where he pledged to do “whatever it takes” to help those affected by a fire at the Bilsdale transmitter in North Yorkshire, which knocked out the signal in up to a million homes across the region in August.

Nearly 80,000 households are still without a signal as a result of the blaze.

HTFP reported in August how the Echo was fighting to get television licence refunds for those affected in a campaign that is still ongoing.

The Echo splashed on Mr Donovan’s visit on Thursday

Nick Gullon, Echo audience and content editor, said: “As part of the Northern Echo’s Bilsdale mast campaign and commitment to our readers who are still without television signal, we invited the chief executive of Arqiva, the company behind the mast, into our offices to find out exactly what is being done to improve the situation and restore services to the thousands of people still affected.

“Even in this modern age, these people without television and radio signal and internet access are relying on newspapers to get their news, information and updates in their communities, so it is vital we do everything we can to not only give people these valuable updates on the mast, but hold those responsible for creating this disruption to account.”

Once a new mast has been completed the number of households still without signal will reduce to 23,000.

Speaking at the Echo’s office, Mr Donovan argued that many of these households will use Sky and Virgin Media, bringing that total down again to around 10,000 to 12,000 households. The new mast is due to be completed this week.

Echo editor Karl Holbrook told HTFP: “Campaigning journalism has been a key part of our 150-year history and that means making a difference and improving the lives of the communities we serve.

“That includes helping the thousands of people, many of who are elderly and the most vulnerable in society, who have now been without TV signal for months, leaving some of them entirely cut off from the outside world.

“We strongly believe these people shouldn’t have to pay their licence fee when they don’t have services – you wouldn’t expect to pay a phone or broadband bill if you didn’t have signal or access to the internet.

“That’s why we campaigned for the BBC to give refunds to those who have been without signal for more than a month. But we will believe they should go further than that.

“It is well known that the North East has some of the most deprived areas in the country, made worse by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and people work hard every day to earn a living, put a roof over their heads and feed their families.

“They shouldn’t even be a penny out of pocket by paying for a service they can’t access, and the BBC should recognise this by offering refunds to anyone who has been impacted.”