As of 30 June 2004, digital television penetration had increased to 55% of UK households, up from 53% from the previous quarter, according to Ofcom, the official market regulator. A further 4% of households subscribed to analogue cable during the quarter, bringing the total number of households receiving some form of multi-channel television to over 59%.
Key trends include:
- By 30 June 2004, digital television penetration increased to 13,704,459. This represents an increase in overall penetration of 2.4%, with an additional 630,000 households adopting digital television during the quarter.
- Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television) uptake increased by 12.1%, with the total number of households receiving Freeview at the end of June estimated to be nearly four million (3,889,000) households.
- Sky’s UK subscriber base continued to grow, adding 76,000 subscribers during the quarter, bringing its total number of subscribers to over seven million (7,032,000).
- The total number of subscribers to cable television (both digital and analogue) has increased by 24,000 and is now around 3.36 million, of which digital cable accounts for almost 2.47 million.
The total number of free-to-view digital homes is now almost 4.2 million, an increase of 13.4% from the previous quarter. This figure comprises the number of viewers using Freeview, those using satellite ‘Solus’ cards and ex-Sky subscribers, who continue to use their satellite box for viewing free-to-view channels. http://www.ofcom.org.uk