Digital terrestrial is now in more homes than ever before, the BBC has announced today.

Almost 500,000 adapters have been sold in the four months since Freeview's launch, taking the total number of DTT homes to 1.4 million when former ITV Digital subscrbers and integrated digital TV users are taken into account.

"In early November last year, not even the optimists amongst us - including me - would have predicted that sales of Freeview adaptors in the UK would be so good," said Andy Duncan, the BBC's director of marketing, at the FT New Media Broadcasting Conference earlier today.

"They are already approaching 500,000 units in just over four months since its launch. Indeed probably none of us would have predicted that in the Barb panel for March the estimated number of live 'Freeview homes' would be nearly 1.4m. Overall this now leaves Freeview bigger than the highest ever level reached by ITV digital."

In his speech, Duncan also revealed that the BBC would begin another marketing campaign for the Freeview service later this month, running through to Easter, followed by the corporation's "first major push" for its digital radio lineup in June.

Duncan's speech can be read in full on BBC Online here.