Freeview heads for 2.5 million homes

The digital TV platform is now in about 2.1m UK homes and consumers have been buying set-top boxes at a rate of about 25,000 per week, though this figure has doubled in recent weeks in the build up to the festive trading period.

Freeview, which has just had its first birthday, is predicting a "big" Christmas and analysts are forecasting growth for the platform, which will add more channels over the coming year, including Disney, which is preparing to roll-out in winter.

The service, a joint venture between the BBC, BSkyB and Crown Castle, has gone from strength to strength since ITV Digital collapsed.

ITV Digital's bosses requested that customers return their set-top boxes shortly after the company hit the wall, but thousands refused and now about a third of Freeview's viewers have retuned their ITV Digital boxes to receive its replacement.

Some analysts are predicted further price cuts for set-top boxes, which typically retail from between £50 and £80. This would lead to even greater demand for a channel that was met with industry scepticism after it launched, given ITV Digital's failure to convert the British public into digital TV fans.

Sky, the UK's most popular digital television network, recently said its subscriber base had surpassed seven million households. Freeview, if it remains on track, should have four million homes connected by the end of 2004.

20 October 2003:

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