Freeview has announced that sales of set top boxes and integrated televisions have passed the 10 million mark, resulting in the service currently present in 6.4 million UK homes.
According to the latest figures from Freeview, month on month sales of free-to-air enabled products, such as PVRs and integrated digital TVs, increased by over a third compared to the same period in 2005.
Commenting on the results, Ilse Howling, general manager at Freeview, said: “People love Freeview’s simplicity, our great channels and the one-off payment. With the addition of new entertainment channels, including E4, More 4, Sky Three, ITV 4 and CITV, and with FilmFour on the way, we offer a compelling and simple route to digital TV.”
“Our audience is genuinely mass market and mainstream – with the new channels attracting a younger audience than when we launched in 2002.”
Commercial multichannel broadcasters are increasing their presence in the television arena, with total penetration of the market reported to be at 69%. According to the latest forecasts from Billets Media commercial audiences will grow by 2% in 2006, fuelled by an advance in Freeview adoption (see Billetts Forecasts Mild Growth In UK TV And Print Media).
OPera Media expect multi-channel revenues are expected to perform strongly, with revenues for all multi-channel stations predicted to be up 15% in 2006 accounting for 25.07% of the TV market (see UK Adspend To Hit £15 Billion By 2010).
The strong performance of multi channel is confirmed in the latest Trends In TV from the IPA which show that for the third quarter running multi-channel viewing remains the fastest growing platform (see Multi-Channel TV Viewing Share Hits 30%).
Related Links
