Freesat sales hits 1 million sales

Freesat has hit a million sales in the 18 months since its launch in 2008 – and a third of its customers were poached from Sky.
The free-to-air satellite TV platform experienced a surge of 250,000 sales over the Christmas period, a quarter of all the Freesat products sold.
Freesat claims its success has come at the expense of pay-TV satellite rival Sky, with a survey of 1,000 Freesat homes reporting that 33 per cent had replaced their existing Sky box, while seven per cent of sales added a Freesat box to their existing Sky setup.
Another 44 per cent were replacing Freeview as their digital TV choice or adding to a Freeview box, and 80 per cent of Freesat homes are using hi-def receivers or TVs.

Freesat MD Emma Scott commented: “Freesat is a great opportunity for the millions of homes with existing satellite dishes who are used to quality TV but no longer want to pay a monthly subscription for it and we continue to see an increasing number of viewers moving across from pay-TV.
“Much of what we’re now working on is paving the way for next generation free TV with innovations like BBC iPlayer and ITV Player. We will continue to add value to the service by integrating Canvas if approved by the BBC Trust and we are following Ofcom’s pay-TV review with interest.”