Freeview New Zealand passes quarter million mark

Growing range of affordable options drives Freeview past the quarter million mark

Tightened consumer spending, an increase in TV viewing habits and the improved affordability of Freeview|HD® receivers are all paying dividends for Freeview NZ, with its latest round of quarterly figures confirming it is now available in more than a quarter of a million Kiwi homes.

The latest sales figures for the three months ending June 2009 indicate that the total number of households able to receive Freeview is 255,048. This figure consists of 167,328 Freeview satellite homes (an increase of 11,846 from the last quarter) and 87,720 Freeview|HD® homes (an increase of 17,061 from the last quarter).

“There’s never been a better time to start planning how you change from analogue to digital TV than now by buying either a Freeview|HD® or Freeview satellite receiver,” says Sam Irvine, General Manager, Freeview.

“One of the key drivers for our growth in the last quarter has been the sharp deals available in retail, which is partly due to new brands coming into the market with Freeview approved products. These include well known consumer favourites such as Sanyo and LG television. These brands complement the existing large number of Freeview approved brands and models already proving popular,” he adds.

“It’s now possible to buy a Freeview approved Freeview|HD® receiver for as little as $199.00, making free high definition viewing more attractive for Kiwis than ever before. And with the vast majority of High Definition panels now including Freeview|HD® built-in tuners, we expect the number of homes with access to free-to-air digital television and subscription free high definition programming, to keep growing rapidly,” he concludes.

The uptake of Freeview in the last quarter closely mirrors the increase in overall TV viewing habits throughout the country, with data released recently by AGB NMR illustrating that viewership is up nearly 10% in certain key time zones.