TV viewers taking greater control with PVR
July 2, 2009
Research from UK's Ofcom reveals that more viewers are taking greater control over the way they watch TV as the total number of digital video recorders sold in the UK has reached almost nine million (8.9 million). Its Digital Progress Report for the first quarter of 2009 showed that the number of digital recording devices had increased by nearly one million on the quarter.
The report also shows that the total number of digital households reached 89.2 per cent with digital switchover now underway in the West Country, Border and Isle of Man.
The total number of households with a DTT device on any set reached 18 million, up from 17.7 million during the quarter. Since Freeview launched in 2002, the total sales of DTT devices reached over 43 million units, with over 23 million set-top boxes and nearly 20 million Integrated Digital TVs (IDTV)
BSkyB reported that its customer base grew by 80,000 to over 9.3 million households in the UK and Ireland during the quarter. This is up by 430,000 subscribers year-on-year.
By March 2009 the BBC/ITV Freesat service reported that sales had reached 350,000 up from 230,000 sales in the previous quarter. Of these almost three-quarters of sales were HD ready receivers (263,000). According to the consumer research there were around 500,000 households with free satellite services down around 100,000 on the previous quarter.
The total number of cable TV customers reached its highest ever figure with 3.65 million subscribers, up by almost 137,000 in twelve months Over half (53 per cent) of its customers were using its VOD service.
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