Home > Media and Analysts > News Release Archive > 2006 > Oct > 04/10/2006

04|10|06

Ofcom publishes Digital Television Progress Report for Q2 2006

Ofcom today publishes its Communications Market: Digital Television Progress Report for the second quarter of 2006 (April-June).

The report shows that by the end of June 2006 70.2% of UK television households (17.7 million) were watching digital television on at least one set in the home - up from 69.7% at the end March this year. This represents a restatement of the headline data for Q1 following an adjustment in the calculating methodology.

The report also reveals that the large majority of digital television receivers are now being bought for use on additional television sets within the home to complement digital viewing on the household’s primary television. The number of secondary television sets (for example, those used in a spare room or a child’s bedroom) viewed using digital receivers has more than doubled in the year to June 2006, from just under 3.5m to over 7m.

In total, more than 40% of television sets in the UK are either connected to a digital set-top-box or have an integrated digital tuner demonstrating that a substantial number of households are now going fully digital.

Key trends for the second quarter of 2006 include:

DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL TELEVISION (DTT) – Freeview services

• The three months to the end of June 2006 was the fourth consecutive quarter in which sales of DTT equipment (either set-top-boxes or televisions with built-in DTT tuners) exceeded the million mark. DTT sales, at 1.2m for the quarter, were up more than 70% on the same period in 2005.
• DTT services are now viewed on 19.4% of the UK’s 60m television sets, compared to 17.6% in the previous quarter.
• The number of households viewing DTT services on their primary television set now stands at 6.4m, up 0.2% since Q1 2006. The number of secondary sets used to watch DTT services has more than doubled in the past year and now stands at more than 5m.

NOTE: OFCOM REVIEW OF METHODOLOGY AND RESTATEMENT OF Q1 DATA

Historically, research has focused on those households which have acquired a set-top box for their primary television set in order to switch over to digital television for the first time. However, it is now clear that a significant number of DTT sales are to households which are already viewing digital television and which are now turning their attention to secondary sets in the home.

As switchover approaches it is important to maintain the distinction between the two different kinds of purchasing decisions in the DTT retail market. Ofcom has therefore revised the methodology used to assess the impact of DTT growth on the progress towards digital switchover. This new methodology has been applied to the previous quarter’s data to give the most accurate and statistically robust reflection of actual market trends.

DIGITAL SATELLITE TELEVISION – BSkyB and free-to-view satellite services

• Digital satellite television remains the most popular digital television platform on primary television sets in UK households. In total 33.4% of UK television homes either subscribe to BSkyB’s television services or receive free-to-view satellite services.
• In the year to June 2006 satellite television accounted for around one quarter of net digital household additions. In Q2 2006, of the 168,000 homes viewing digital services for the first time on their primary television sets, 64% chose to do so via digital satellite television.
• The total number of Sky Multiroom subscribers (a subscription service which allows viewing on multiple sets in the home) broke through the 1m mark in Q2 2006 and the number of Sky+ subscribers stood at more than 1.5m.

CABLE TELEVISION – NTL:Telewest services plus others

• An additional 50,000 households began subscribing to digital cable television in Q2 2006; the majority of those switched from legacy analogue cable television services. There are now over 2.8m digital cable television subscribers, representing 11.3% of all television households compared to 10.4% a year previously.
• Some 86% of all cable television subscribers now view digital television services (with 14% remaining on legacy analogue systems), up from 84% in the previous quarter.
• When analogue cable subscribers are also taken into account, the total number of cable television subscribers stood at 3.3m (13.1% of all television homes) in Q2 of 2006.

See Related Items for the full report.

Ends.

NOTE FOR EDITORS AND CSEs

1. The term ‘digital television household’ is defined by the kind of digital service viewed on the household’s primary television set. Therefore, a household viewing satellite or cable on the primary television set but DTT on a second set would be defined as a satellite or cable digital household. A household viewing DTT services on the primary television set and other analogue sets in the home would be counted as a DTT household.

Back to top