It is no use ignoring today's launch of digital television because one day all TV will be digital.

That day may be as far away as 2010 or 2015 - but if you cling on to your current TV until then, it will become useless.

You may be old enough to remember the launch of colour television -- the difference is that this TV revolution is not optional.

Bradford is very much at the centre of today's launch of Sky Digital which provides an initial 140 TV channels with a total of 200 in the offing.

Pace Micro Technology, based in Saltaire, is in at the start of the digital revolution, being the only company to have digital set-top boxes in the shops. Orders have been placed with stores selling them for weeks. And workers at Salts Mill, where Pace is based, have been working flat out to meet the demand.

Pace was hard hit when Sky Digital's launch was delayed last year. The company ploughed millions into the development of its digital products, expecting Sky to launch in the autumn of 1997. But the launch was delayed until this summer and then delayed again.

The company has now recovered and taken on 142 extra staff and 50 engineers to cope with demand which is expected to be more than 300,000 set-top boxes in the next six months. If it is a success, Pace will be looking to add extra staff to its current 850 at Saltaire - especially engineers which it urgently needs. Pace chief executive Malcolm Miller said today: "The UK market brings great new opportunities for us. It is our home market and it is also hosting three new digital services. This will create jobs in engineering, sales and marketing and in production - particularly as we move into the next millennium and analogue begins to get phased out."

Thirty years ago the city was at the centre of the colour TV revolution when production was stepped up at the former Thorn factory at Lidget Green. That bubble burst when Thorn started producing colour TV sets elsewhere and 2,000 workers lost their jobs.

Put simply, digital television uses computer technology rather than airwaves to transmit a picture.

The switch to digital satellite television involves either buying a new TV set for about £1,000 (but prices are expected to fall soon) or purchasing a set-top box, which ironically sits under the set, and a new dish for £199 and paying for some of the programmes on offer.

Launching digital television is a gamble the TV companies, including ONDigital - a joint venture between Carlton and Granada and the BBC - hope will pay off.

Viewers will need to make up their minds what sort of digital TV they want. The Sky route involves buying a decoder and a new dish for £199, the ONDigital and the BBC services can be picked up using a current aerial but need a set-top box to receive a picture and digital cable.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.