Two-thirds of the UK now digital – Freeview leading the way
The whole world is going digital, and the UK is leading the way, with two-thirds of the population now having switched over from the soon-to-be turned off analogue signal, to a digital future. Freeview has proved to be a massive success, with knowledge of what is on offer through the service finally getting through, while Freesat, and paid services such as Sky and Virgin Media, also seeing growth.
There are four years left until Britain finally goes digital, with the analogue television signal due to be switched off in 2012. Which means UK residents have been subject to quite an extensive education campaign designed to get us all switching over now, rather than leaving it until the last minute.
Ofcom has just revealed the latest figures for digital uptake, and they show that 68% of the 60 million or so television sets in the UK are now digital in some form or another. That’s an increase of 7 million sets since last year, with digitally linked television sets having risen from 33.5 million to 40.5 million over the last twelve months.
This will have been helped massively by the fact that a lot of new television sets now come with either Freeview or Freesat built in, meaning that anyone who buys a new television in over the next few years will automatically be upgraded, whether they want to be or not.
Freeview, which offers all of the terrestrial channels, plus a range of free cable channels such as Dave, E4, Filmfour, and Sky News, is by far the market leader, with 30 million Freeview boxes sold since its launch in 2002. A set-top-box is available for as cheap as £15, and with no monthly fees, Freeview is now available to anyone, even those on a tight budget.
In terms of paid digital television subscribers, Sky leads the way with 8.3 million households using the service. Cable television is way behind, with 3.5 million subscribers to the range of companies who offer services. Of those, Virgin Media is the largest.
Digital television is soon to be the only choice available for all TV viewers in the UK, with the analogue switch-over having already started. Luckily, the range of options available, from free, to paid services, and satellite-based, and cable-based, is extensive, and no-one can really use an excuse for not switching well in advance of 2012.
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December 10th, 2008
With two thirds of the population having switched over according to the article, how many of these can actually watch Freeview channels now (Dec 2008)? It seems most of the uk, in the south at least, will not have reception of Freeview until 2011 and 2012. By this time many of the Digital TV sets already purchased will start to go faulty.