Brits switch on to digital TV

Almost three-quarters of UK households now have digital satellite or free-to-view satellite TV

Digital television in the UK is growing faster than expected, according to the latest Digital Progress Report from industry watchdog Ofcom. 

Almost three-quarters of UK households now have digital satellite or free-to-view satellite TV, and the number of digital households rose to 18.2 million in the first quarter of 2006.

The increase beat Ofcom's forecast. Its previous Digital Progress Report had predicted that 1.7 million more homes would go digital by the end of 2006, but nearly 800,000 had already switched to digital by the end of March.

Free-to-view digital households, made up of Freeview and free-to-view satellite, account for the biggest growth in digital TV. 

Ofcom estimates that free-to-view digital grew by 9.7 per cent over the first three months of 2006 to more than 7.7 million, with Freeview overtaking traditional analogue TV for the first time.

Digital satellite remains the UK's most popular digital TV platform. More than 7.7 million of the UK's 8.3 million digital satellite households have a BSkyB subscription.

Cable also accounts for a substantial number of digital households, with just over 3.3 million subscribing to services from providers such as NTL which is now merged with Telewest. 

Analysts predict that the government's Digital UK national TV campaign, launched on 5 May, will see take-up accelerating even faster. 

The £200m campaign features an animated robot called Digit Al, voiced by Little Britain's Matt Lucas.

The ad will run for seven years, providing encouragement and advice for TV viewers yet to make the switch to digital before the final analogue TV signals are switched off in 2012.

A recent Ofcom study found that UK families on lower incomes are less likely than wealthier families to know about the proposed digital switchover.

The digital TV market is set for a major battle later this year when BT launches its next-generation BT Vision TV/broadband service, and NTL overhauls its cable TV offering in association with Virgin Mobile.