Ofcom Report On Progress Of Digital Television

Ofcom recently published its Communications Market: Digital Television Progress Report for the second quarter of 2006 (April-June).
The report shows that by the end of June 2006 70.2% of UK television households (17.7 million) were watching digital television on at least one set in the home - up from 69.7% at the end March this year. This represents a restatement of the headline data for Q1 following an adjustment in the calculating methodology.
The report also reveals that the large majority of digital television receivers are now being bought for use on additional television sets within the home to complement digital viewing on the household’s primary television.
The number of secondary television sets (for example, those used in a spare room or a child’s bedroom) viewed using digital receivers has more than doubled in the year to June 2006, from just under 3.5m to over 7m.
In total, more than 40% of television sets in the UK are either connected to a digital set-top-box or have an integrated digital tuner demonstrating that a substantial number of households are now going fully digital.
The three months to the end of June 2006 was the fourth consecutive quarter in which sales of DTT equipment (either set-top-boxes or televisions with built-in DTT tuners) exceeded the million mark. DTT sales, at 1.2m for the quarter, were up more than 70% on the same period in 2005. The number of secondary sets used to watch DTT services has more than doubled in the past year and now stands at more than 5m.
However, digital satellite television remains the most popular digital television platform on primary television sets in UK households. In total 33.4% of UK television homes either subscribe to BSkyB’s television services or receive free-to-view satellite services.
An additional 50,000 households began subscribing to digital cable television in Q2 2006; the majority of those switched from legacy analogue cable television services.
(SP)