One-in-five digital households free-to-air

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The latest quarterly statistics from the ITC reveal that the continued growth in digital and multichannel TV in the UK, has been driven by the success of Freeview.

The report reveals that by 31 March 2003 multichannel and digital TV penetration are estimated to have increased to 48.6 per cent and 43.9 per cent of UK households respectively. A key statistic reveals that Free-to-Air digital services (terrestrial and satellite) have accounted for 60 per cent of the growth. This means one in five digital households are now free-to-air.

Overall the Report says that the increase in digital penetration over the last quarter (January - March 2003) was attributable to the following key developments:

DTT showed substantial growth over the quarter reaching 1.6m DTT households
Sky has added more than 143,000 paying subscribers, leading the pay TV market with 6.4m UK households
Cable also contributed to the growth in digital penetration by adding over 56,000 digital subscribers bringing the total number of digital cable homes to 2.1m.