Ofcom: Eight in 10 U.K. Homes Have Digital TV

LONDON, September 20: According to a new report released by British media regulatory authority Ofcom, almost 85 percent of U.K. homes now have digital television on their main set, with household takeup of digital television—via Freeview, digital satellite or cable TV—standing at 84 percent at the end of June, up from 80.5 percent three months earlier.

Ofcom also noted that the number of multichannel households, including analog cable homes, has reached 85 percent of total U.K. households. This is up 13 percentage points over last year and the strongest 12 months’ growth to date.

The digital terrestrial television platform Freeview had spearheaded the upward trend in the quarter from April to June, accounting for 81 percent of the net growth in digital TV, or 763,000 sets. At the end of June there were 9.14 million Freeview-only homes, up from 8.38 million three months earlier. Nearly 1.9 million Freeview devices were sold during the quarter, with more than a million of them to homes that already had digital TV.

Satellite and cable also took a share in the growth, with 8.09 million customers paying for BSkyB’s satellite service in the U.K. and 3.41 million subscribers to the Virgin Media cable service, with 3.13 million of those on digital. Cable penetration is now at its highest since the second quarter of 2004, reaching 13.4 percent of U.K. homes, compared with 35.9 percent for digital terrestrial, or Freeview, and 35.5 percent for satellite, of which 3.7 percent was free-to-view satellite.

"More than four in five U.K. households are now enjoying the benefits of digital television," said Ofcom’s chief executive Ed Richards, as reported in MediaGuardian. "It’s extremely encouraging that we are continuing to see the market grow strongly with less than a month until Whitehaven becomes the first place to fully switch to digital television."