Christmas Shoppers Push Freeview Into Five Million Homes
Record Christmas sales of Freeview receivers have given a massive boost to the digital TV system, pushing the number of Freeview-equipped households up to the five million mark and delivering extra channels to at least one million more homes than at the same point last year, according to initial sales figures.
According to estimates from the BBC, 1.5m digital terrestrial set top boxes and integrated TV sets were sold in the three months to 25 December. While in each of the two weeks before Christmas a record 190,000 sets and set-top-boxes were bought, comfortably beating Christmas 2003’s best of 140,000 in one week.
The BBC has claimed that Freeview’s growth is helping to achieve universal access to its digital services, while the take-up also brings the Government’s goal of digital switchover closer to reality than ever.
In the two and a half years since the BBC started promoting its digital services the proportion of viewers who say they won’t get digital television in the next year has plummeted from 35% to 21%, according to the Corporation’s tracking survey. According to figures from industry regulator Ofcom, just under 4 million households had Freeview equipment at the end of September 2004.
The BBC states that, taking into account a proportion of boxes and sets bought for homes that already have access to digital TV, sales estimates indicate that about 1.1 million homes bought into digital terrestrial for the first time in the last three months of the year, pushing the total number of Freeview homes to five million.
In total 13.9 million households had access to digital television at 30 September, of which 7.4 million were through satellite, about 2.5 million watched through digital cable and 3.9 million were Freeview only homes.
Commenting on Freeview’s growth, Ilse Howling, head of digital marketing and communications at the BBC, said: “It’s fantastic news that so many people are now switching on to digital television and the BBC’s six extra channels through Freeview and other platforms. Free digital television has a huge appeal and shows no signs of slowing down.”
Ofcom recently released research stating that an increasing trend by consumers to upgrade second household TV sets to receive digital broadcasts was creating a much larger market than initially anticipated for Freeview receivers (see Second Set Upgraders Fuel Digital TV Penetration).BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk Freeview: 08708 80 99 80 www.freeview.co.uk
Recent Television Stories from NewsLine Sky Boosts Freeview Profile With 24 Premiere Sky Secures Buena Vista For Pub Advert Takeover First Results From BARB’s Lifestyle Survey Published