Digital TV marches on

Celebrities starred in a trailer for Freeview, backed by the BBC

Nearly half of all homes in the UK now have access to multichannel TV services, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) has said.

The ITC said that in the quarter until 31 March, 48.6% of UK homes had multichannel TV services.

The figure includes digital services, which are in 43.9% of homes, as well as people using analogue cable or satellite services.

More than 1.6m households now have the Freeview system to enable them to get digital TV with their aerials - backed by the BBC - a jump of 20% compared with the previous quarter.

The ITC said Freeview had been taken up more than 280,000 new households in the three-month period.

The commission, which regulates commercial TV in the UK, calculated an overall jump in the number of multichannel households of 4.2%.

The UK Government is keen to switch off the analogue signal between 2006 and 2010 in favour of digital transmission.

The report said Sky's share of the multi-channel market had decreased by 0.4% taking its overall share to 58.9%.

But the satellite service gained more than 143,000 paying subscribers during the three months, the ITC said.

More than 6.4m households now have pay-TV, it added.

The report also noted a sharp drop in cable TV figures.