Digital tv reaches 63%

Ariel: 15 September 2005

On the day culture secretary Tessa Jowell is expected to unveil the official timetable for digital switchover, Ofcom figures show that 63 percent of UK households have digital tv.

The media regulator's latest update indicates that by June 30, 2005, the total number of digital tv households grew by almost 298,000 over the preceding quarter, to 15.7m.

BSkyB added 75,000 subscribers bringing its total number of UK subscribers to 7.4m. There were over 700,000 sales of Freeview set-top boxes and integrated digital tv sets by the end of the quarter.

Ofcom estimates the number of Freeview only homes has grown to almost 5.2m. The total number of subscribers to cable television also increased in the quarter to just over 3.3m.

Latest estimates suggest that almost 30 percent of Freeview set-top boxes are in households that already have digital television (either Freeview, Sky or cable) on their main set.

Jowell will announced the official timetable for switching over from analogue to digital television tonight in Cambridge.

Viewers on the English-Scottish borders are likely to have their existing tv signals switched off in three years, with the rest of the UK will following region by region – finishing in 2012.