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The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, has been accused of being “insensitive” after saying Border region viewers who cannot receive all 48 Freeview channels can get satellite television instead.

The Conservative shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, claimed Burnham was “either out of touch or completely insensitive” over his comments to viewers in the Border region.

Border, which covers Cumbria and the Scottish Borders, is due to begin switching from analogue to digital terrestrial television from midnight on November 5 in the Selkirk area.

Responding to Ofcom research suggesting that just 53% of Border viewers will be able to receive all 48 Freeview DTT channels when switchover is completed by next June, Burnham told the Carlisle News & Star: “In all parts of the country people have the chance to have whatever channels they want.

“The question being, should I commit public funds to make purely commercial channels available to the public and that is not, I do not think, a priority for public spending. People pay the licence fee and they get the core offer of the channels and that will be available.

“There are always other options. If I was living in an area where I cannot get the full set of channels then I will have Freesat or Sky or a different option.

“In the region when Border switches over in a few weeks time, Sky is the default option on the scheme.”

However, Hunt said: “This is an unusual attitude for a government minister to have.

“Given that the public has already spent £800m on digital switchover it’s ludicrous to tell them to pay again because the government can’t get it to work properly.

“With people around the country struggling to pay their bills Andy Burnham is either out of touch or completely insensitive.”

Viewers who cannot get Freeview - or cannot receive the full suite of Freeview channels - but do not want to pay a BSkyB subscription can get digital satellite television through Freesat.

Sky’s Freesat service has more than 240 free digital channels available for a one-off payment of £150.

Under the digital help scheme, set up by the BBC through an agreement with the government to help those who are over 75 or claiming disability allowance, Sky’s digital satellite service is available as one of the “standard options” for £40.

For those on low incomes, it is available for free.

BSkyB won the competitive tender to provide the digital help scheme in the Border region.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “Substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money are being invested in digital switchover to ensure fairer access to broadcast services for all licence fee payers.

“For many people, especially in rural areas, that will be a significant improvement and will offer greatly increased choice. However, it is not an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money to provide purely commercial channels such as shopping and adult channels.”