A change in the reporting methodology by Ofcom has failed to dent the growth of digital television in the UK. From the first quarter of 2008 the regulator has relied on consumer research alone rather than the previous combination of pay-TV subscriber data, DTT research and estimates for free satellite households.
Although Ofcom will continue to report the platform data, the statistic will not be included in the overall take-up figures.
Based on the new methodology the end of March 2008 saw the take up of multichannel TV on main sets increase by 190,000; from 86,5% to 87.2% and by 6.9 percentage points year on year. The new methodology resulted in a restating of the previous quarter’s figures resulting in a slight fall of 0.4 percentage points compared to the previously quoted figures.
There are now almost 22.2 million households with multichannel equipment connected to their primary television set. Three million DTT devices were sold during the period including 1.9 million integrated digital televisions, the 116% increase on 12 months ago indicating the receivers are finally making their mark.
DTT or Freeview is in a total of 16.1 million homes including 9.2 million where DTT alone is available on the primary set.
Free to view digital satellite homes increased by 80,000 in the quarter, though ahead of the official launch of Freesat. Pay-TV, which is available in 12.2 million households, also maintains its popularity.
