Freeview passes 10 million milestone

Freeview is now the TV service of choice for over 10 million UK households. The announcement comes on the day the free-to-air DTT platform begins transmitting in HD in London and Manchester.

In total over 18 million UK homes use Freeview on at least one TV set in the home, with over 10 million homes using the service on their main TV set.

In the West Country, which completed its switch to digital TV in September, 80% of analogue homes chose Freeview for their main TV set compared to 12% for DTH operator Sky and 8% for cable service Virgin Media. DVR service Freeview Plus has also performed strongly, with 1.8 million recorders purchased since launch in 2007 and sales on track to reach two million by the end of the year.

The technical launch of Freeview HD began today with signals going live in London and Manchester. Freeview will launch a new HD set-top early next year, making subscription-free HD channels available. It expects 50% of UK households to be able to access Freeview HD by the World Cup in June 2010.