Ofcom digital television report 2013: Digital TV figures continue to rise across UK

Following the completion of the switchover to digital terrestrial television last year, there has been a slight increase in the uptake of digital television across the UK since the switch.

According to the Digital Television report – conducted by Ofcom – in Q4 2012, 98% of UK households (25.1 million) received digital television over any platform, an increase of almost 5% on Q4 2011.

The remaining households that didn’t receive digital TV either watched television through other connected devices such as games consoles, did not have a TV set, or had TV sets that couldn’t receive a digital signal.

The number of households that subscribed to Pay TV in Q4 2012 was up marginally on the Q4 2011 figure – up by 2% to a 54% total.

Over 6.2 million households received both Sky and Freeview signals, with just 13,000 households receiving all Freeview, Sky and Cable services.

However, satellite and cable subscription was stable across the year, seeing no growth since the Q4 2011 figures of 37% and 13%, respectively.

Figures for free-to-view digital satellite households saw a healthy rise compared with the previous year, increasing from 2.04 million to an estimated 2.12 million in 2012. The figure has almost quadrupled since 2009.