Digital TV News

Freesat TV now in 1 million homes

Thursday 25 March, 2010

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

Over a million homes in Britain are now enjoying subscription free satellite TV from Freesat.

Freesat, the subscription-free digital satellite TV service from the BBC and ITV, has passed the 1 million sales mark, after its launch in the UK just a little over 18 months ago.

Emma Scott, managing director of Freesat said: “Hitting 1 million sales is a significant milestone for Freesat and gives us a great foundation for further growth, specifically with the millions of UK homes that have HD TVs but no HD service.”

Set-top boxes for Freesat now account for 30% of all set-top boxes sold in the UK.

The digital TV provider said the majority of its sales have come from homes with existing satellite dishes, with 40% of all sales coming from customers leaving the subscription TV service from Sky.

Scott continued: “Freesat is a great opportunity for the millions of homes with existing satellite dishes who are used to quality TV but no longer want to pay a monthly subscription for it. We continue to see an increasing number of viewers moving across from pay TV.”

Freesat is the only free-to-view provider that offers the BBC iPlayer service. The on-demand catch-up TV platform was made available to Freesat customers with Humax set-top boxes in January this year.

Mark Thompson, director general at the BBC, added, “The development of Freesat has extended the choices available to viewers in allowing them to receive all of the BBC’s digital channels including BBC HD.”

Freesat offers customers over 140 channels, two of which are high-definition (HD). The service is available to 98% of the UK. Set-top boxes can be purchased from as little as £49.

Jon Ingram, operations director at Digitalchoices.co.uk, said: “If your household hasn’t already made the switch to digital, or you live in an area where the Freeview reception isn’t brilliant, getting a Freesat set-top box could be the answer.”