61% of UK adults receive pay-TV
January 28, 2015
Ofcom has published its annual reports into the consumer experience of the fixed and mobile, Internet and digital broadcasting markets.
Around half of all UK adults access multichannel television at home through Freeview, with 34 per cent only using Freeview. This compares to 30 per cent only using satellite and 14 per cent only using cable.
Just over six in ten (61 per cent) adults receive pay-TV, an increase since 2013 (from 58 per cent). The increase for pay-TV is evident across all age and socio-economic groups.
Take-up of the Internet remains stable, with four in five (83 per cent) households able to access the internet at home. Seventy-eight per cent of households use either fixed and/or mobile broadband, 5 per cent have access only via their mobile phone and 1 per cent use a dial-up internet connection.
Four in five UK adults access the Internet, either at home or elsewhere, with increases since 2013 for 16-24s (95 per cent to 98 per cent), 65-74s (53 per cent to 65 per cent) and women (81 per cent to 84 per cent).
Ownership of any type of connected device is unchanged since 2013, at 82 per cent. Within this overall figure, however, there are some significant changes: a decline in ownership of laptops (from 66 per cent to 63 per cent) and increases for smartphones (from 56 per cent to 63 per cent) and tablets (from 29 per cent to 46 per cent).
Smartphone ownership has increased (to 63 per cent), but growth appears to be slowing. Growth since 2013 has been mainly driven by 45-64s (up from 44 per cent to 58 per cent).
Further highlights from the report include:
– Digital terrestrial coverage is almost universal following digital switchover. Digital terrestrial television (DTT) has near-universal coverage of 98.5 per cent of UK households, as the UK completed digital switchover in late 2012.
– DAB digital radio services are available to over nine in ten (94.7 per cent) households. Following the launch of new multiplexes around the UK, the proportion of UK households served by local commercial multiplexes has also increased; from 71.7 per cent to 73.1 per cent.
– In 2014 there was an increase in non-ownership of digital TV (from 2 per cent to 4 per cent). This increase in non-ownership is most notable among 16-24s.