MUMBAI: Britains regulator Ofcom has come out with a 'digital television update' for the first quarter of 2005. The report analyses data provided by the main digital television platform providers.

The report reveals that by 31 March 2005 digital television penetration was estimated to have reached 61.9 per cent of UK households; an increase of 2.5 per cent points from 59.4 per cent from the previous quarter.

Key trends that the report highlighted include:

•     By 31 March 2005, the total number of digital television households grew by 643,517 to 15,417,398.
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•     BSkyB added 87,000 subscribers bringing its total number of UK subscribers to 7,349,000 at the end of Q1 2005. [Source: BSkyB results, Q1 2005]
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•     The number of Digital Terrestrial Television (Freeview) only households saw a significant increase at the end of March 2005, with DTT households now estimated to have passed the 5 million mark for the first time (estimated 5,059,350). An increase of 466,430, from 4,592,920 at the end of the previous quarter, December 2004. [Source: Freeview Q1 2005 sales figures, GfK market research, Ofcom market estimates]

•     Estimation of to be free-to-view digital households over 5.5 million . This figure consists Freeview viewers plus free-to-view digital satellite homes.
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•     Total number of homes using free-to-view digital satellite is estimated to be around 445,000. Figures include viewers who are no longer Sky subscribers but still receive the public service channels through their set-top boxes, as well as Solus card viewers. [Source: Ofcom market estimates]
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•     Total number of subscribers to cable television (analogue and digital) is now just under 3.3 million.
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• Digital cable increased by over 30,000 and now accounts for over 2.5 million of the total. [Source: ntl and Telewest Broadband Q1 2005 results
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• Three per cent of households continued to subscribe to analogue cable during the first quarter of 2005, bringing the total proportion of households receiving some form of multi-channel television to just over 64.9 per cent.
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• In calculating Digital Terrestrial Television 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 25 per cent of Freeview set-top boxes are in households that already have digital (either Freeview, Sky or cable) on their main set. Sky and cable subscriber figures already account for multi-set users.