Around 7 million housholds in the UK are equipped to receive DTT broadcasts, Ofcom estimates in its latest Digital Television Update.

The news caps a strong quarter for the sale of DTT units: around 1 million set-top boxes and IDTVs were sold between July and September, taking the total number of DTT units in the market to just over 8.9 million. The number of DTT-only households rose by 600,000 over the period to 5.8 million.

The figures suggest that takeup of Freeview is increasing at a rate around four times that of Sky.