Digital terrestrial TV service, Freeview, is helping to convert more and more people from analogue to digital, with new figures showing that the service is now available in 1.6 million households.
Research commissioned by the BBC and Dixons shows that Freeview has sold over 800,000 adapters since its launch in October, bringing the total number in use to 1.6 million. This makes the service, which is co-owned by the BBC, BSkyB and Crown Castle, more popular than its terrestrial predecessor, ITV Digital, which had around 1.2 million subscribers when it collapsed last April (see
Administrators Confirm ITV Digital Sale).
The research suggests that Freeview is helping to persuade consumers who were previously uninterested in DTV of the benefits of the multi-channel platform; 83% of the service’s customers claim not to have considered getting any other system. The one-off payment and lack of contract are key attractions of the service.
It is widely predicted that Freeview will drive the growth of digital TV over the next few years and ecommerce minister, Stephen Timms, recently insisted that the platform would be vital to the Government’s plans to switch off the analogue signal by the proposed 2006-2010 deadline (see Analogue TV Switch-Off Target Will Be Met, Says Timms).
