Britain tops in digital TV viewers with 70% |
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Sun, 19 Mar 2006 08:05
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LONDON: The U.K. has the world's highest concentration of digital TV viewers at just less than 70 per cent of the total viewers, according to a study by regulator Ofcom. Nearly 17.5 million households received digital channels by the end of 2005, the regulator said, adding the figure will cross the 70 per cent mark early this year.
The U.S. has the second highest number with 55 of the total viewers. No other European country has so far crossed the 50 per cent level.
While 2.7 million homes had installed digital TV in 2005, more than 1.1 million households had it installed in the last three months of the year.
Ofcom said the number of households subscribing to satellite broadcaster BSkyB exceeds those with traditional analogue TV. The cable TV operator now has some 8 million subscribers.
Most of that growth has been accounted for by Freeview, the subscription-free digital service received via terrestrial antenna. Freeview now accounts for seven out of every 10 households watching digital TV. The cost of a Freeview box has halved since 2003 to 41 pounds in 2005.
Ofcom said by end of 2010, around 95 per cent of homes are expected to switch over to digital TV of one form or other. Britain intends to switch over completely to digital broadcasting by 2012.
The digital penetration has reached 80 per cent in Wales already, while it rose by 17 per cent in the Border area, the first TV region to see analogue switched off in 2008, to a total of 80 per cent.
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