English Entertainment
Digital television penetration reaches 63% in UK
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MUMBAI: Digital Television penetration has been estimated to have reached 63 per cent in the UK in the second quarter of 2005, which is up from 61.9 per cent from the previous quarter. This was revealed in a study done by Ofcom. |
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In addition, 2.8 per cent of households were subscribing to analogue cable, bringing the total receiving some form of multi-channel television to just over 65.8 per cent. |
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Within these total figures, the key developments in the second quarter of 2005 were:  • The number of digital television households grew by almost 298,000 during the quarter, increasing digital penetration by 1.1 per cent points. • Freeview (DTT) had another strong quarter of growth with over 700,000 sales of Freeview set top boxes and IDTV’s by the end of Q2. This exceeded the corresponding quarter for 2004, when 496,000 sales were added. • BSkyB’s subscriber numbers in the UK increased by 75,000 to reach 7,424,000 in the UK at the end of Q2 2005. • The total number of subscribers to cable television also increased in the quarter to just over 3.3 million. Digital cable increased by over 57,000 in Q2 and now accounts for over 2.6 million of the total. • The number of households with Freeview (Digital Terrestrial Television) as the only digital platform is estimated to have grown to almost 5,178,000 by the end of June 2005. Up by over 118,000 during the quarter. • Latest estimates suggest there are also around 492,000 free-to-view digital satellite homes. This figure includes viewers who are no longer Sky subscribers but still receive the public service channels through their set-top box. Also included in this figure are the “Solus” viewers who are able to receive the public service channels through this scheme. • In total there are now almost 5.7 million free-to-view digital households. (Freeview (DTT), plus free-to-view satellite). In calculating DTT households, an adjustment has been made to account for the number of households which have digital TV on more than one set. Latest estimates suggest that almost 30 per cent of Freeview boxes are used on secondary sets in households that already have a digital platform, (either Freeview, Sky or cable), on their main set. No adjustment has been made to the Sky or cable figures as these are already shown net of second receivers (e.g. a household with two Sky boxes is only recorded once). The share of total digital homes across all platforms (both pay and free-to-view) at the end of Q2 2005 was as shown in the graph below:
As far as the sare of digital homes by platform were concerned, the Ofcom report revealed that with all of the digital platforms showing a steady increase during Q2, each platform’s share of all digital homes has remained largely the same. Apart from that, BSkyB’s share of digital homes showed a slight decrease of 0.5 per cent from 47.7 per cent in Q1 2005 to 47.2 per cent in Q2. BSkyB’s share of pay-television homes remained broadly stable at 69.1 per cent in Q2. The cable’s share of digital TV homes increased slightly to 6.6 per cent during the quarter. The cable share of the Pay TV market remained largely the same at 30.7 per cent in Q2. Also, DTT showed a small increase in share of digital TV homes, up to 32.9 per cent by the end of Q2. The study also revealed that the cable industry as a whole saw an overall increase in total TV subscribers of 13,352 in the UK. The number of digital cable subscribers increased by 57,306, reaching 2,601,354 by the end of Q2 2004 – an increase of 2.25 per cent from Q1 2005. |
UK: The aerial is losing its grip. As broadband becomes the default way Britons watch television, the UK is edging towards a decisive, and divisive, question: should Freeview be switched off by 2034? The issue, highlighted in reporting by The Guardian, has exposed deep fault lines over access, affordability and the future of public service broadcasting.
For nearly 25 years, Freeview has delivered free-to-air television from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to almost every corner of the country. Even now, it remains the UK’s largest TV platform, used in more than 16m homes and on around 10m main household sets. Yet the same broadcasters that built it are now pressing for its closure within eight years.
Their case rests on a structural shift in viewing. Smart TVs, superfast broadband and the Netflix-led streaming boom have pulled audiences online. Advertising economics have followed. By 2034, the number of homes using Freeview as their main TV set is forecast to fall from a peak of almost 12m in 2012 to fewer than 2m, making digital terrestrial television, or DTT, increasingly costly to sustain.
But critics say the rush to switch off risks abandoning those least able, or least willing, to move online.
“I don’t want to be choosing apps and making new accounts,” says Lynette, 80, from Kent. “It is time-consuming and irritating trying to work out where I want to be, to remember the sequence of clicks, with hieroglyphics instead of words. If I make a mistake I have to start again.”
Lynette is among nearly 100,000 people who have signed a “save Freeview” petition launched by campaign group Silver Voices. She fears the government is about to “take [Freeview] away from me and others who either don’t like, can’t afford, or can’t use online versions”.
Official figures underline the fault lines. A report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport estimates that by 2035, 1.8m homes will still depend on Freeview. Ofcom’s analysis shows those households are more likely to be disabled, older, living alone, female, and based in the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Freeview is owned by the public service broadcasters through Everyone TV, which also operates Freesat and the newer streaming platform Freely. After two years of review, DCMS is expected to set out its position soon, drawing on three options proposed by Ofcom: a costly upgrade of Freeview’s ageing technology; maintaining a bare-bones service with only core PSB channels; or a full switch-off during the 2030s.
The broadcasters have rallied behind the third option. They argue that 2034 is the logical cut-off, when transmission contracts with network operator Arqiva expire. By then, they say, the cost of broadcasting to a dwindling audience will far outweigh the returns from TV advertising.
Ofcom agrees a crunch point is approaching. In July, the regulator warned of a “tipping point” within the next few years, after which it will no longer be commercially viable for broadcasters to carry the costs of DTT.
Others see risks beyond economics. Questions remain over whether internet TV can reliably deliver emergency broadcasts, such as the daily Covid updates, in the way that universally available DTT can. The UK radio industry has also warned that an internet-only future for TV could push up distribution costs and force some radio stations off air if PSBs no longer share Arqiva’s mast network.
“It is a political hot potato,” says Dennis Reed, founder of Silver Voices, who says he has “dissociated” his organisation from the government’s stakeholder forum, which he believes is “heavily biased” towards streaming.
The Future TV Taskforce, representing the PSBs, counters that moving online could “close the digital divide once and for all”. “We want to be able to plan to ensure that no one is left behind,” a spokesperson says, adding that rising DTT costs could otherwise mean cuts to programme budgets.
The numbers show the scale of the challenge. Of the 1.8m Freeview-dependent homes projected for 2035, around 1.1m are expected to have broadband but not use it for TV. The remaining 700,000 are forecast to lack a broadband connection altogether.
Veterans of the analogue switch-off, completed in 2012 after 76 years, recall similar fears of “TV blackout chaos”. Around 6 per cent of households were labelled “digital refuseniks”, yet a targeted help scheme and a national campaign, fronted by a robot called Digit Al voiced by Matt Lucas, delivered a largely smooth transition.
This time, the BBC is less keen to foot the bill. Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, has said the corporation should not fund a comparable support programme for a Freeview switch-off.
Research for Sky by Oliver & Ohlbaum suggests that with early awareness campaigns and digital inclusion measures, only about 330,000 households would ultimately need hands-on help ahead of a 2034 shutdown.
Meanwhile, viewing habits continue to fragment. Audience body Barb says 7 per cent of UK households no longer own a TV set, choosing to watch on other devices. In December, YouTube overtook the BBC’s combined channels in total UK viewing across TVs, smartphones and tablets, albeit measured at a minimum of three minutes.
That shift may accelerate. YouTube has recently blocked Barb and its partner Kantar from accessing viewing session data, limiting transparency just as online platforms consolidate power.
“When the government chose British Satellite Broadcasting as the ‘winner’ in satellite TV it was Rupert Murdoch’s Sky instead that came out on top,” says a senior TV executive quoted by The Guardian. “There already is such an outsider ready to be the winner in the transition to internet TV; it is YouTube.”
Freeview’s future now hangs on a familiar British dilemma: modernise fast and risk exclusion, or protect universality and pay the price. Either way, the aerial’s days as king of the living room look numbered.
