UK TV viewers love Digital according to new report

UK has highest penetration of digital TV viewers in the world

17 March 2006 15:39 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The UK is ahead of the game when it comes to digital television having the highest penetration of any country in the world.

In a report published by OfCom, the Office of Communication, as of 31 December 2005 digital television was viewed by just under 70% of all UK television households, up from 65.9% in the previous quarter.

Take-up has not passed the 50% mark in any other European country.

Preliminary sales figures of Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television or DTT) set-top boxes suggest that by the end of February 2006, digital penetration had exceeded 70% of UK homes. Take up varies across the UK - in Wales, for example, digital penetration had reached 80% by the end of 2005.

Digital satellite is now the UK's most popular television platform. For the first time, there are now more digital satellite subscribers in the UK than there are homes watching analogue terrestrial-only TV, as a result of continued growth in BSkyB's subscriber base and large numbers of households switching from analogue terrestrial television to digital terrestrial services.

The report also reveals that almost one in four UK adults live in homes where all TV sets are now used for digital television viewing and viewing of analogue television services has ceased entirely.

Full tags

Home Cinema, Televisions