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A row is brewing in the television industry about the BBC's triumphant claims for the success of Freeview, after the corporation announced that the number of households with the digital TV service had passed 4 million.
The BBC is trumpeting the fact that Freeview, the digital television service it launched with transmission business Crown Castle in the wake of the collapse of ITV Digital in October 2002, has sailed through the 4 million homes mark in less than two years.
However, according to the latest Barb figures to June by the official ratings body for the television industry claims Freeview is present in only 2.9 million households.
While still showing impressive growth since launching in October 2002, the figure is more than 1.1 million below the BBC's own figure.
BBC 'manipulating figures'
Some in the industry believe the BBC is giving an unfair portrayal of Freeview's success by measuring the number of boxes sold rather than the number of households that receive it. "The BBC seems to be manipulating figures for its own interest," said one TV executive.
In comparison with BSkyB and cable companies Telewest and NTL, which have detailed information on all the paying customers they have, it is notoriously difficult to assess the number of Freeview boxes in circulation.
Because Freeview is completely free once a customer has bought the box from a high street retailer, customers do not need to register their purchase and therefore there is no way of knowing exactly how many boxes have been sold.
The BBC is trumpeting the fact that Freeview, the digital television service it launched with transmission business Crown Castle in the wake of the collapse of ITV Digital in October 2002, has sailed through the 4 million homes mark in less than two years.
However, according to the latest Barb figures to June by the official ratings body for the television industry claims Freeview is present in only 2.9 million households.
While still showing impressive growth since launching in October 2002, the figure is more than 1.1 million below the BBC's own figure.
BBC 'manipulating figures'
Some in the industry believe the BBC is giving an unfair portrayal of Freeview's success by measuring the number of boxes sold rather than the number of households that receive it. "The BBC seems to be manipulating figures for its own interest," said one TV executive.
In comparison with BSkyB and cable companies Telewest and NTL, which have detailed information on all the paying customers they have, it is notoriously difficult to assess the number of Freeview boxes in circulation.
Because Freeview is completely free once a customer has bought the box from a high street retailer, customers do not need to register their purchase and therefore there is no way of knowing exactly how many boxes have been sold.