Digital TV News

Freeview digital TV is main service in 10 million homes

Thursday 3 December, 2009

By Seamour Rathore - seamour@consumerchoices.co.uk

Households in regions where the digital switchover has happened have been choosing Freeview digital TV in droves.

Freeview, the non-subscription digital TV service is gaining new customers as the digital switchover sweeps the UK.

It is the main service in 10million homes and in total over 18 million UK homes use Freeview on at least one of their sets.

Freeview is joint venture between the BBC, ITV, BSkyB and communications network specialists Arqiva.

Ilse Howling, managing director, Freeview, said: “It is a testament to both the simplicity of the service and the hard work of the team that we have hit 10 million so soon.

Jon Ingram, operations director at Digitalchoices.co.uk, said: “Freeview’s HD services will provide an added attraction for the service. However in terms of the range of channels, TV on-demand, exclusive films and sports it lags behind its paid-for competitors.

“Sky (www.sky.co.uk) has almost 10 million UK customers and Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) has around 3.7 million cable TV customers. Both frequently offer attractive deals including bundles with home phone and broadband which can work out good value overall.

“If you are in an area due to be switched to digital, it’s a good idea to evaluate your options.”