An indignant pensioner from Otley who wants to receive digital television has been told he cannot because of a lack of signal.

Jack Higman from Whiteley Croft Road considered getting a set top box but was told Otley does not receive the signal needed.

He said: "I've rung a few numbers - Sky, BBC, NTL - and nobody seems to be able to give me a realistic answer.

"What started me off was Channel 5 - I like football and it sometimes bothers me I can't get it, and I'm not keen on putting a satellite dish on the side of the house.

"I feel indignant - the way I see it, although I don't pay it anymore, I paid the same television license as everyone else, and I only got four-fifths of it."

A spokesperson from another cable company Telewest Broadband said: "The LS21 postcode is not within our franchise area, so we haven't cabled it, and we don't have any plans to expand into it."

The long term problems of receiving Channel 5 in Otley also continue, and although 80% of the UK population now can get it, the majority of houses in Otley still cannot.

A spokesperson for Channel 5 said: "The main reasons why you can't receive the signal could be because you're too far away from the transmitter. The other reason will be if you're behind a hill, in a deeply wooded area, surrounded by high buildings or generally anywhere where the signal can be blocked.

"What we recommend is that people get a PACE box, which is available from Dixons and Currys for less than £100. It is fitted between the roof top aerial and the television and lets people see free to air channels, like Channel 5."

That is the set top box Mr Higman wanted, but was told he could not receive the digital signal needed for it in Otley.

A statement on the website of the Independent Television Commission, which regulates commercial television services, including digital and Channel 5 said: "The ITC is working with broadcasters to improve coverage of digital terrestrial television (DTT) signals.

"In the short to medium-term, however, some areas are unlikely to be able to receive signals because both digital terrestrial and analogue TV use the same set of analogue frequencies and it is very difficult to find 'gaps' in these frequencies to transmit the new digital services on."

Councillor Graham Kirkland (Lib Dem, Otley and Wharfedale) has been campaigning for improved signals for Wharfedale for two years. He said: "Signals at the moment are analogue, but they're being fazed out. Analogue is transmitted by waves, and digital by small pulses, and the machines which pick up analogue won't pick up digital and vice versa.

"We need the cable system to be completed - Otley should have got it in 1998, when the rest of Leeds did, but they stopped on the border. The mast at Clifton should also be completed for digital. The more people who write to the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) who run the masts the more likely it is to happen. There are a substantial number of people who live in Wharfedale - 50,000 plus - and they deserve a service."