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Digital Television Uptake

Platform figures for Q1 2004 and Q2 2004 - Pay TV subscribers
Pay TV subscribers Q1, 2004 Q2, 2004 Quarterly growth rate
Digital cable 2,408,530 2,469,326 2.50%
Digital Satellite (Sky) 6,956,000 7,032,000 1.10%
ADSL 8,664 9,074 4.70%
Total digital pay TV households 9,373,194 9,510,400 1.20%

 

Platform figures for Q1 2004 and Q2 2004 - Free-to-view receivers
Free-to-view receivers (set-top boxes plus integrated digital TVs) Q1, 2004 Q2, 2004 Quarterly growth rate
Free-to-view DTT (Freeview) 3,929,200 4,424,485 12.60%
Free-to-view digital satellite* 231,000 305,000 32.00%
Total Free-to-view receivers 4,160,200 4,729,485 13.70%
Adjustment to remove double counting for Households equipped to receive digital on more than one set -461,133 -535,426  
Total Free-to-view households 13,072,261 13,704,459 4.80%
Digital penetration 53.00% 55.40% 2.4%**

 

Platform figures for Q1 2004 and Q2 2004 - Additional homes receiving analogue multi-channel services
Additional homes receiving analogue multi-channel services Q1, 2004 Q2, 2004 Quarterly growth rate
Analogue cable 916,745 898,424 -2.00%
Platform figures for Q1 2004 and Q2 2004 - Total analogue and digital
Total analogue and digital Q1, 2004 Q2, 2004 Quarterly growth rate
Total UK pay TV households 10,289,939 10,408,824 1.2.%
Total UK multi-channel households 13,989,006 14,602,883 4.40%
Multi-channel penetration 56.70% 59.10% 2.4%**

*These figures comprise the number of ‘Solus' card viewers plus an estimate of the number of ex-Sky subscribers who continue to use their set-top boxes for viewing Free to view channels.

** This figure represents the increase in percentage penetration not the % quarterly growth rate. Figures may not add due to rounding.

Sky continued its consistent growth, adding 76,000 paying subscribers over the quarter, to bring the total number of UK subscribers to 7,032,000.

After adjustment for double counting, total DTT households increased by around 421,000 during the quarter, representing an increase of over 12%.

Based on the latest figures for Q2 March 2004, overall cable television subscribers are around 3,367,750. Digital cable subscribers make up around 73% of the total cable base.

Overall digital penetration increased, by 2.4 percentage points, reaching 55.4% of UK households. Multichannel penetration in the UK is now around 59.1%.

Digital and multichannel penetration of UK households

Chart: Digital and multichannel penetration of UK households - figures below

Market shares

The share of total digital homes across all platforms (both pay and free-to-view) at the end of Q2 2004 was:

Pie chart: Market shares - figures below

Share of digital homes by platform

Figures for penetration, share of homes and net additions by platform up to the end of Q2 are as follows:

Digital take-up
  Q4
2002
Q1
2003
Q2
2003
Q3
2003
Q4
2003
Q1
2004
Q2
2004
Digital cable 8.50% 8.70% 8.80% 9.00% 9.40% 9.80% 10.00%
Digital satellite 27.70% 28.60% 29.40% 30.40% 28.90% 29.10% 29.70%
DTT 4.80% 6.00% 7.20% 8.60% 11.90% 14.10% 15.70%
ADSL 0.05% 0.05% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04%
Total digital 41.00% 43.30% 45.50% 48.00% 50.20% 53.00% 55.40%
Analogue Cable 5.10% 4.70% 4.30% 4.10% 4.00% 3.70% 3.60%
Total Multichannel 46.10% 48.00% 49.80% 52.20% 54.20% 56.70% 59.10%

 

Pay TV take-up
  Q4
2002
Q1
2003
Q2
2003
Q3
2003
Q4
2003
Q1
2004
Q2
2004
Cable 13.60% 13.40% 13.10% 13.20% 13.40% 13.50% 13.60%
Digital satellite 25.40% 26.00% 26.40% 27.00% 28.00% 28.20% 28.40%
DTT 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
ADSL 0.05% 0.05% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04% 0.04%
Total 39.10% 39.40% 39.60% 40.30% 41.50% 41.70% 42.10%

 

Share of digital TV market
  Q4
2002
Q1
2003
Q2
2003
Q3
2003
Q4
2003
Q1
2004
Q2
2004
Cable 20.60% 20.00% 19.40% 18.80% 18.80% 18.40% 18.00%
Digital satellite 67.50% 66.10% 64.70% 63.20% 57.50% 55.00% 53.50%
DTT 11.70% 13.70% 15.80% 17.80% 23.70% 26.50% 28.40%
ADSL 0.10% 0.10% 0.10% 0.10% 0.10% 0.10% 0.10%

 

Share of multichannel TV market
  Q3
2002
Q4
2002
Q1
2003
Q2
2003
Q3
2003
Q4
2003
Q1
2004
Cable 29.40% 27.90% 26.40% 25.30% 24.80% 23.80% 23.10%
Digital satellite 60.00% 59.60% 59.10% 58.20% 53.30% 51.40% 50.20%
DTT 10.40% 12.40% 14.50% 16.40% 21.90% 24.80% 26.60%
ADSL 0.11% 0.09% 0.09% 0.08% 0.07% 0.06% 0.06%

 

Share of net additions
  Q3
2002
Q4
2002
Q1
2003
Q2
2003
Q3
2003
Q4
2003
Q1
2004
Cable -5.30% -7.70% -12.90% 2.80% 2.60% 3.40% 6.90%
Digital satellite 65.80% 49.90% 44.80% 40.90% 0.00% 12.80% 24.40%
DTT 40.60% 58.00% 68.30% 56.40% 97.40% 83.80% 68.60%
ADSL -1.10% -0.20% -0.10% -0.10% -0.30% 0.00% 0.10%

 

* Latest figures for the Top-Up TV service have not been released for Q2. However as the subscribers to Top-Up TV also receive free-to-view DTT they are therefore already included under the DTT sections for subscribers.


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