Freesat now in 1.7 million UK homes

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
Freesat logo

Freesat confirms strong 2012/13 Results

  • Freesat remains the UK’s fastest growing established TV platform
    and continues to outgrow Pay-TV rivals
  • Freesat added c.150,000 homes in the last 12 months, more than both Sky and Virgin Media combined
  • This included 29,000 new Freesat homes in latest quarter, Jan-Mar 2013
  • 51% of Freesat customers switched from Pay-TV in 2012/13, the majority from Sky
  • Freesat now in 1.7 million homes, c.6% of UK homes
  • Total unit sales of 3.2 million since launch five years ago
  • Gross retail UK sales to date of £1.2 billion with particularly strong sales of the new hybrid box

Freesat, the UK’s free-to-air digital satellite television provider today announced very strong 2012/13 results as the company celebrates its fifth birthday next week. Having added c.150,000 homes in the last 12 months, Freesat remains the UK’s fastest growing established TV platform, and continues to outgrow Pay-TV rivals.

Freesat, BT plc, Virgin Media, BSkyB

According to Freesat’s own customer research*, 51% of homes that joined the free TV service in 2012/13 were from Pay-TV rivals. The research also indicated that just over 25% of homes are considering changing TV service provider in 2013, and of these, 60% are being driven by the desire to save money.

Emma Scott, Freesat’s Managing Director commented: “Freesat is truly a TV platform of choice. Our consistently positive results demonstrate fantastic growth and a strong appetite for high quality, good value TV, in a challenging economic environment. The success of our service with its cutting edge TV Guide and on-demand services including BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and YouTube, gives yet more sensible reasons to switch to Freesat.

“Everyone of us across the UK is continually reassessing how we spend our money, and with 79% of viewing across all platforms, including pay, going to free channels, and 52% going to the top 5 channels – having a monthly TV subscription just doesn’t make sense for most people.”

Freesat has now sold 3.2 million units, far exceeding original sales projections and taking total gross retail UK sales to £1.2 billion since launch in May 2008.
Freesat will grow the features over time, including a remote record app for smart phones and tablets as well as the introduction of additional movie and music services.

* Data taken from Freesat research, conducted by YouGov in April 2013, Freesat estimates that it is in 1.7m homes; for comparison, research firm 3 Reasons estimates that Freesat is in 1.6m homes.