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Executive summary

1.1 By 31 March 2005 digital TV penetration was estimated to have reached 61.9% of UK households, up from 59.4% at 31 December 2004.

1.2 In addition 3% of households were subscribing to analogue cable, bringing the total receiving some form of multi-channel television to just over 64.9%. Within these total figures, the key developments in the first quarter of 2005 were:

• The total number of digital television households grew by 643,517 over the quarter, increasing digital penetration by 2.5% points.
• BSkyB’s subscriber numbers in the UK increased by 87,000 to reach 7,349,000 in the UK at the end of Q1 2005.
• Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television) saw a very strong increase, with household numbers estimated to have grown to around 5,059,350 in the same period.
• Latest estimates suggest there are also around 445,000 free-to-view digital satellite homes. This figure includes viewers who are no longer Sky subscribers but still receive the public service channels through their set-top box. Also included in this figure are the “Solus” viewers who are able to receive the public service channels through this scheme.
• In total there are now over 5.5 million free-to-view digital households. (Freeview (DTT), plus free to view satellite).
• The total number of subscribers to cable television is now just under 3.3 million. Digital cable increased by just over 30,000 and now accounts for just over 2.5 million of the total.

1.3 In calculating DTT households an adjustment has been made to account for the number of households which have digital TV on more than one set. Latest estimates suggest that 25% of Freeview boxes are in households that already have digital (either Freeview, Sky or cable) on their main set. Sky and cable subscriber figures already account for multi-set users.

The full document is available below

• Digital Television Update - Q1 2005 [pdf]
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