ONdigital Doubles Its Subscribers

ONdigital, the digital terrestrial television broadcaster, announced this morning that it has more than doubled the amount of subscribers to its service since March this year. The broadcaster currently has a total of 247,000 subscribers, all of which have signed on since the launch of the service in November last year (see Newsline); 137,000 of these signed up in the three months to the end of June.

Sky Digital’s satellite service is understood to have around 800,000 subscribers. Of these subscribers, approximately 40% are newcomers to Sky, whilst the rest have upgraded from their existing analogue packages.

Competition in the digital TV market hotted up recently when Sky Digital announced that it was going to begin giving away free set-top boxes to new subscribers (see Newsline). ONdigital, which initially offered free set-top boxes only to customers buying a television worth £200, returned fire with news that it was also offering boxes for free (see Newsline).

ONdigital’s set-top box giveaway commenced at the end of May and June was the broadcaster’s most successful month, as it recruited 68,000 subscribers – nearly a quarter of its total number of customers.

Steve Grabiner, chief executive at ONdigital, commented: “We’ve gone from a standing start to a quarter of a million new subscribers in just over six months. That’s a record for the launch of a digital television service in Europe. We’re well on track to achieve our three year target of two million subscribers.”

ONdigital: 0171 819 8000