New Zealand - Freeview powers past the 160,000 mark

Freeview, the free-to-air digital television and radio platform, continues its strong growth as the ever expanding channel and High Definition (HD) line-up attracts more New Zealanders.

At the end of September 160,496 receivers had been sold, with an additional 37,980 receivers added in the July to September quarter. This makes it the highest quarterly take-up since Freeview launched a mere 18 months ago in May 2007. This translates to an estimated 10% of New Zealand homes now having access to Freeview, or 380,000 plus Kiwis. The Freeview|HD service, which launched in April this year, is growing rapidly with 27,319 HD capable receivers sold.

Steve Browning, General Manger, Freeview NZ, says that Freeview is pleased to see how swiftly the consumer electronics industry has moved to produce Freeview receivers. “We have seen a significant increase in the range of receivers and integrated digital televisions this quarter. It provides people around the country with a greater choice of equipment and a better retail price point which has helped us to drive strong levels of take-up.” he says.

Samsung is the latest manufacturer to announce its new television with Freeview|HD built in. This brings the number of TV manufacturers with integrated digital televisions to five,” he adds.

At the same time the channel line-up on Freeview continues to grow with the addition this week of ChineseTV8 to the Freeview|HD service. This service now has 11 TV and 2 radio services, while the Freeview satellite service has 12 TV and 3 radio services.