The green support services firm Eaga, has beaten the likes of Capita in the bid to become the named preferred supplier for the BBC's Digital Switchover Help Scheme.

The programme will help up to seven million people to convert their televisions to digital, as the broadcaster changes from analogue to digital transmission between now and 2013.

As part of the contract the company will contact each eligible person directly to help them with the switch. The firm will provide the scheme contact centre, equipment and home installation.

Eaga, which typically helps vunerable people improve the energy efficiency of their homes, beat competition from the likes of Capita and Vertex, the back office business of United Utilities, to secure the deal.

"This scheme goes to the heart of our work as a force for social inclusion and the skills and expertise we have developed as a market leader in delivering to vulnerable customers on a national scale,” John Clough, the Eaga chief executive, said. "The digital switchover process is a hugely important development for broadcasting in this country."

The total projected cost of the help scheme is £603 million, of which about £500 million is allocated to the estimated service supplier costs.

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