Digital television UK household penetration reaches 63%

Ofcom today publishes its Digital Television Update for the second quarter of 2005. The report examines data provided by the main digital television platform providers for the summer period.

The update shows that by 30 June 2005 digital television penetration was estimated to have reached 63% of UK households, up from 61.9% from the previous quarter.

Key trends include:

* By 30 June 2005, the total number of digital television
households grew by almost 298,000 to 15,715,178.

* BSkyB added 75,000 subscribers bringing its total number of UK subscribers to 7,424,000 at the end of quarter two. [Source: BSkyB results, Q2 2005].

* There were over 700,000 sales of Freeview set-top boxes and iDTVs by the end of the quarter. This exceeded the corresponding quarter for 2004, when 496,000 sales were added. [Source: Freeview Q2 2005 sales figures].

* Ofcom estimates the number of Freeview (Digital Terrestrial
Television) only homes has grown to almost 5,178,000 by the end of June 2005. Up by over 118,000 homes during the quarter. [Source: Ofcom market estimate, GfK].

* The total number of subscribers to cable television (analogue
and digital) also increased in the quarter to just over 3.3
million. Digital cable increased by over 57,000 and now accounts for over 2.6 million of the total. [Source: ntl and Telewest Broadband Q2 2005 results].

* 2.8% of households continued to subscribe to analogue cable during the quarter bringing to total proportion of households receiving some form of multi-channel television to just over 65.8%.

* In calculating Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television)
households an adjustment has been made to account for the number of households which have digital television on more than one set. Latest estimates suggest that almost 30% of Freeview set-top boxes are in households that already have digital television (either Freeview, Sky or cable) on their main set. Sky and cable subscriber figures already account for multi-set users.

The full Ofcom Digital Television Update - Q2 2005 can be obtained from the link below:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtu_2005_q2/

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