Ofcom: World Cup Driving HD Takeup

LONDON: British media regulator Ofcom reports that the World Cup is driving an increase in HDTV sales, which topped 24 million in the U.K. by the end of March 2010.

With the tournament kicking off in South Africa tomorrow, Ofcom reports that 50 percent of British homes will be able to watch games in HD through a standard roof-top aerial, thanks to the early rollout of HD on Freeview.

The regulator also notes that pay-TV platforms are seeing strong interest in their HD services. Sky added 428,000 extra subscribers to its HD service in Q1, the second highest quarterly additions to date. The platform now has 2.5 million subs. Cable service Virgin Media added 77,900 HD subs in the period to reach 939,900. Meanwhile, HD receivers have accounted for around 80 percent of BBC/ITV Freesat sales so far.