Ofcom: Cable subs increase slightly in 2005

Cable television's market share among all TV homes stood at 13.2% (10.8% digital TV, 2.4% analogue TV) at the end of 2005 according to the media regulator Ofcom.

That number compares to a 30.5% market share for Sky, 28.2% for analogue terrestrial TV, and 25.7% for Freeview.

Among digital TV homes, cable's market share was 16% compared to 47% for digital satellite and 37% for Freeview.

By the end of 2005, the total number of cable TV subscribers in the UK was 3.3m, of which 2.72m had digital. Cable's subscriber base is gradually migrating to digital; in 2005's fourth quarter, the number of digital cable subscribers increased by 71,000 while the number of analogue subscriptions dropped 58,000. Ofcom estimates that parts of the cable network reaching around 18% of cable customers still need upgrades to handle digital TV services, a process that the regulator says should be complete by the end of this year.

Digital cable TV is available to 47% of homes in the UK, with the cable network covering predominantly urban areas. Once the digital upgrades are complete, this number will rise to 51%.