Digital TV Penetration In The UK Exceeds 80%
More than 80% of households in the UK now receive digital television services on their primary set, up from more than 77% in the last quarter, with almost 82% of homes receiving multi-channel TV at the end of Q1 2007.
Ofcom’s latest Digital Progress Report has shown that more than 20.4 million households now have digital TV equipment connected to their main television, with the success of Freeview largely to thank for this increase (see Freeview Has Best Christmas Ever).
The free to air platform has overtaken subscriber service Sky, and Freeview is now on the main set in 8.4 million homes, compared to Sky’s eight million, after selling almost two million set-top boxes between January and March alone. In total, 46% of UK homes, some 11. 7 million, now watch TV through a Freeview device.
The report forecasts that the BBC Trust’s decision to approve the executive Board’s FreeSat proposition, which is to launch next year (see Freesat Gets BBC Trust Approval), should cause the number of free satellite homes to grow further.
Despite Freeview’s success, Sky also increased its customer base, by just over 32,000 during the same period, and Virgin Media gained 36,100 new homes to 3.4 million after recording a take-up of 13.4%, its highest level in almost five years.
The Sky+ service saw another quarter of growth, adding almost 200,000 new subscribers in the first quarter of the year, taking the total to over two million homes. This means that more than one in four of all Sky subscribers now have the service.
Recently, the company announced that it is to get rid of its monthly Sky+ subscription charge (see Sky+ Subscription Charge To End) in an attempt to increase take-up and loyalty amongst its digital customers ahead of the launch of Freeview Playback (see Freeview Launches Major Ad Campaign For PVR).
Sky’s HD service also added 60,000 subscribers, taking the total number to 244,000 by the end of Q1, equivalent to 3% of Sky’s subscriber base.
Meanwhile, Virgin’s V+ service grew from 79,000 users last quarter to 150,000 for Q1 2007.
Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, said: “More than four in five UK households are now enjoying the benefits of digital television. It’s great news that we are continuing to see the market grow strongly as we approach the start of digital switchover.”
Ofcom’s report also shows that the number of homes receiving analogue terrestrial television on their primary set fell by 3.1% during Q1 2007, whilst over the year analogue television take-up has fallen by almost 10 percentage points from 28.2% in Q1 06 to 18.3% by Q1 07.
The UK will begin switching off the analogue signal later this year, with Whitehaven and the surrounding area of Cumbria having BBC Two switched off on October 17 this year.
The remaining three analogue channels will be switched off four weeks later on November 14, with the two-stage process being repeated across the UK until switchover is completed in 2012 (see Digital Switchover Gets October Start Date).
| Q4 06 | Q1 07 | Growth Rate | |
| Pay TV Digital Subscribers | |||
| Digital cable | 3,013,171 | 3,088,371 | 2.50% |
| Digital satellite (BSkyB) | 7,975,980 | 8,008,000 | 0.40% |
| TV over ADSL | 43,000 | 62,000 | 44.20% |
| Total Digital pay TV subscribers | 11,032,151 | 11,158,371 | 2.30% |
| Free to view digital households | |||
| DTT (Freeview) only homes | 7,703,000 | 8,376,000 | 8.70% |
| Free to view digital satellite | 815,000 | 885,000 | 7.90% |
| Total free to view households | 8,518,000 | 9,261,000 | 8.70% |
| Total UK Digital Households | 19,550,151 | 20,419,371 | 4.40% |
| Digital Penetration | 77.20% | 80.50% | |
| Other multi-channel households | |||
| Analogue cable | 349,154 | 310,054 | -11.20% |
| Multi-channel penetration | 78.60% | 81.70% | |
| Source: platform operators, GfK research, Ofcom market estimates | |||
Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk