Digital TV in 85 per cent of UK homes

Ofcom chief Ed Richards said that four in five UK households now have digital TV

Ofcom has confirmed that 21.4 million homes in the UK are now using digital TV, representing 85 per cent of the UK total.

The figure marks a 13 per cent jump over the past year, and the strongest 12 months to date.

Ofcom's Digital Television Progress Report for the second quarter of 2007 also shows that digital terrestrial television accounted for 81 per cent of the growth in the digital television market during the quarter.

"More than four in five UK households are now enjoying the benefits of digital television," said Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards.

"It is extremely encouraging that we are continuing to see the market grow strongly with less than a month until Whitehaven becomes the first place to fully switch to digital television."

The report also found that almost 1.9 million Freeview devices (set-top boxes plus integrated digital televisions) were sold during the quarter, up from 1.2 million in the second quarter of 2006 and equating to a 52 per cent year-on-year rise.

Freeview enjoyed its fourth highest sales quarter so far with 7.6 million units sold over the past year compared to 5.4 million in 2006.

Sky also saw impressive growth over the quarter, growing its customer base by 77,000 to nearly 8.1 million with over 336,000 additions year on year.

Sky's HD service added 48,000 subscribers taking the total to 300,000, and almost 30 per cent of all Sky customers now subscribe to its personal video recorder service.

Cable services such as Virgin Media continued to rise as well, with over 3.4 million subscribers at the end of the quarter, the highest penetration since the second quarter of 2004 and accounting for 13.4 per cent of homes.