91.4% of UK homes have digital TV

Sales of HD ready TVs reached almost 23 million by the end of 2009, with digital TV now reaching 91.4% of UK homes, according to new research from Ofcom.

The regulator’s Digital Progress Report for quarter 4 2009 reveals that around 70% of the total TV sales for the quarter were HD ready (2.33 million).

Q4 also saw the highest quarterly sales of TV sets so far (3.36 million), said Ofcom.

The report also found that:

• Sky added 482,000 extra subscribers to its HD service, the highest quarterly additions to date.  Total HD subscriptions are now almost 2.1 million equivalent to around 21% of its customer base (up from 8.4% in Q4 2008).
• Virgin’s V+ HD service added 112,700 subscribers to reach 862,000 by the end of 2009, equivalent to 23% of its TV subscriber base (up from  14% in Q4 2008).
• High Definition receivers accounted for 80% of BBC/ITV Freesat sales by the end of the quarter, equivalent to around 720,000 sales.
• In March this year, 4.5 million homes received Freeview HD coverage for the first time, including the cities of Birmingham, Leeds and Cardiff.

Freeview officially launched its HD service last week, with Channel 4 HD joining ITV1 HD and the BBC HD channel on Freeview HD.