According to new figures from Freeview, it is now the most popular way to watch multichannel TV in the UK, overtaking Sky for the first time.
Freeview says that it has sold about 1.7 million Freeview TV sets and set-top boxes in Q1 2007, with about 500,000 of those going to houses going digital for the first time.
This means that the service is now the primary way of watching television in 8.2 million UK homes, a rise from 7.7 million at the end of 2006.
Freeview also said that it expects its hard disk recorder, which launches next month, to be in 12 million homes by 2012.
The new Freeview Playback devices are similar to Sky+ boxes in that they allow the viewer to pause and fast forward live TV.
Much of the growth of Freeview is no doubt due to a growing awareness of the digital switchover, although it seems that our American cousins are not having as much success.
A survey from the Association Of Public Television Stations revealed that the majority of US households that receive their television signals over the air are still unaware of the digital TV switchover, even though an estimated 22 million homes will be affected by it on February 17, 2009 (see US Households Unaware Of Digital Switchover)
Meanwhile, recent research carried out by the BBC said that the UK could lose between £4.1 billion and £15.6 billion in private and social value if high definition channels on the Freeview platform are not developed (see UK To Lose Billions If HD Channels On Freeview Not Developed).
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