Freeview closes gap on Sky

net1

Freeview, the "no frills" digital terrestrial TV service service set up by former BBC director general Greg Dyke has as many as 4.5 million customers less than two years after it launched.
Figures released by media regulator Ofcom today confirmed the huge popularity of the service, which offers 50 TV and radio channels for a one-off cost of about £50.

And its popularity will be further cause for alarm at BSkyB's rival pay-TV operation, which once dominated the market but faces a sharp slowdown in growth. Its service offers hundreds of channels but also charges hundreds of pounds a year to subscribe.

Sky is still the dominant player in digital television with just over 7 million subscribers but it once accounted for virtually 100% of the market and the gap with Freeview is closing.

Freeview - started just two years as a joint venture between the BBC, Sky and Crown Castle - attracted another half a million customers in the second quarter of the year, meaning 4.42 million households had tuned into the subscription-free service by the end of June.

The venture, born out of the ashes of the collapsed ITV Digital, has lured customers either unwilling or unable to pay for Sky TV.