“Solid” H1 for Freesat; Freetime up 200%
August 6, 2015
UK subscription-free satellite TV service Freesat has continued its positive start to the year with strong take-up of Freetime, its connected TV service, which has seen a 200 per cent year-on-year increase in new connected customers. Increased awareness and understanding of the Freetime service has resulted in Freetime sales growing by 48 per cent year-on-year for the first six months of 2015.
Freesat added over 19,000 new homes in the first six months, giving new customers high quality technology and engaging content without any bills. Each week, four million Freesat viewers in the UK can access over 200 TV and radio channels, more than any other free-to-air provider, and at no monthly fee.
The upcoming Autumn programming schedule will continue to draw viewers to free-to-air channels with hugely popular dramas such as Homeland (Channel 4) and the final season of Downton Abbey (ITV) both set to return.
Expansion of Freetime will continue with several new manufacturer partnerships to bring the user-friendly on-demand offering to a greater number of television viewers. In July, Freesat and Humax partnered to launch the HDR-1100S set-top box, the most compact and affordable Freetime PVR to date, providing up to 2TB recording memory. Further Freetime product collaborations with Manhattan and Vestel are on track to launch in the next 12 months.
Alistair Thom, Freesat’s managing director, said it had been another strong quarter for the team at Freesat, with continued growth demonstrating the ongoing appeal of subscription-free connected TV. “Expanding our partnership with manufacturers like Humax, Manhattan and Vestel enables us to offer our customers great telly and on demand services, for even better value,” he added.