Come the dawn of digital television on New Year's Day, not a single set-top box will be available for distribution in Australia, leading to quarrels within government circles.

Queensland Liberal Gary Hardgrave, secretary of the Coalition's communications policy committee, attacked the federal government on ABC radio, stating that the government had missed an opportunity, and instead had created a niche marketing policy with the rollout of digital TV.

"My most recent advice is that none of these 500 [decoders] will be available for January 1, 2001 and so you might see the invidious contrast of transmission causing interference to people's current analogue TV services but with no one having the opportunity of taking up digital TV," Hardgrave told ABC Radio.

Thorn Australia however, has told ZDNet that although the shipment of set-top boxes will be delayed by up to five days, the focus should not be on the delay, but the clear benefits the transition will bring.

"It's appears there will be a delay of up to five days, however it is still a good outcome," Manager Digital Strategy Jeremy Corefield told ZDNet.

Although most of the nation will not be experiencing a mass switching over from analogue to digital TV, Thorn Australia claims it will be the only company initially providing set-top boxes for rental. The first batch of boxes arriving in the country will be used for demonstration purposes only.

"There will be some available for rental in homes in the first few weeks."

According to Corefield, another shipment of 4,500 set-top boxes will be available at the end of January, then a further 5,000 will arrive in February.

"10,000 is still not a huge number, however it will mean that there will be more set top boxes available for wider distribution in February."

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