According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, the
The latest earnings report from Virgin Media has placed TV subscribers at 3.65 million, while broadband subscribers reached 3.73 million. Owing to the fact that some broadband subscribers use their Internet access for IPTV, Virgin Media could very easily serve 5 million homes when it comes to TV programming and content.
BT Vision, on the other hand, reported a subscriber base of 423,000 at March 31, 2009. The upstart IPTV service has experienced exponential growth since it was launched a couple of years ago.
Both Virgin and BT Vision, however, pale in comparison to British Sky Broadcasting's subscriber numbers. For its latest earnings report, BSkyB reported a grand total of 9.32 million subscribers, with some subscribers signing up for as many as three services. The broadcaster, however, lists 7.85 million homes subscribed to its various TV packages, or a little less than one-third of the whole TV market in the country. Compare that to Virgin's 14.09% share of all 25.9 million TV households in the country, and BT Vision's share of less than 2%
Freesat, on the other hand, reportedly have more than 200,000 households under its wings. Freesat is the free alternative satellite service launched in May 2008. This translates to less than 1% of the total UK TV market.
More than this, however, you would note that there are only a little more than half of the estimated 24 million
This bolsters the idea that there would be quite a handful of households that would be left without TV programming if the digital switchover should happen now. Indeed, figures from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board estimated that only 22.3 million households have at least one digital receiver (Sat, Cable or DTT) out of the 25.9 million TV households as of 2009.
It is disheartening that, in this age when the advent of 3D is creating a stir in broadcasting circles and that the country is preparing for the analogue switch-off, even the most dominant player in the DTH industry has not penetrated even half of the estimated TV households in the UK. Admittedly, there is room for growth, but exponential growth is not something that we’re seeing in the near future, and it was not even seen in the recent past. Hopefully, with the influx of new technology, we would be seeing this number rise. That plus developments like the digital switchover should encourage more subscribers for Sky, Virgin or BT.
Maybe Sky and Virgin have been wrong all along. Maybe they should work together to increase the rate of uptake for their services, instead of trying to rip each other apart. In the end, they can potentially double their current subscriber base and provide better service for their existing subscribers.