Research published by Ofcom shows that 80% of UK homes now receive digital television on their main set.

In the regulator's Digital Television Progress Report for January to March this year, the take-up of digital television is currently 80.5% - around 20.4 million homes - an increase of 3.3% from 77.2% in the previous quarter. 869,000 UK homes took up digital television for the first time in the first three months of 2007.

The report also shows that digital terrestrial service Freeview has overtaken Sky as the most popular digital television service. It appears in 8.4 million homes, up from 7.7 million in the last three months of last year. A total of 1.96 million Freeview devices, including set-top boxes and integrated digital televisions, were sold in this period.

Cable provider Virgin Media outperformed Sky in the number of new subscribers for the first time since 2001. Virgin added 36,100 customers bringing cable TV to a total of 3.4 million subscribers.

Sky added 32,020 customers in the quarter bringing its subscriber base to 8 million, according to Ofcom. Free-to-view satellite also added 70,000 homes, taking its total number to 885,000.

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said: "More than four in five UK households are now enjoying the benefits of digital television. It’s great news that we are continuing to see the market grow strongly as we approach the start of digital switchover."