Freeview Celebrates 1st Birthday With Record Sales
Free digital TV and radio service Freeview has celebrated its first year of sales by revealing that between 1.7 and 2.1 million households now receive the service.
Since January this year sales of Freeview boxes have been running at an average of 100,000 boxes per month, making it among the fastest-growing consumer electronics product ever.
The success of Freeview, in marked contrast to the ITV digital fiasco, has been attributed to the simple nature of the service. According to research, the fact that there is no contract and that all the channels are free is the single biggest driver of sales, with 81% of customers citing it as an important reason for buying Freeview.
Freeview has successfully begun to bridge the digital divide by attracting a distinct category of consumer, three quarters of those purchasing Freeview boxes are completely new to digital.
Commenting on the growth of the medium, Matthew Seaman, general manager of Freeview said: “We are delighted with the success of the service and excited that the range of channels will be increased further by the launch of a channel from Disney. Just a year after launch, Freeview has proved itself to be the missing piece in Britain’s digital TV picture.”
Freeview is expected to be a big seller in the lucrative Christmas market and during the last 12 months 38 manufacturers have launched over 100 different Freeview enabled products.
The increasing popularity of multichannel television is continuing to put pressure on the UK’s main terrestrial channels, which are having to fight harder to maintain their share of viewing, according to the latest Trends In Television report from the IPA (see Growth In Multichannel Viewing Hits Terrestrial Channels).
BBC: 020 8743 8000www.bbc.co.uk
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