The World Cup drove an increase in HDTV sales in the UK, according to British media regulator Ofcom. Sales topped 24 million in the UK by the end of March 2010 and with the kick of the World Cup last Friday, even more homes are tuned into the games in HD. Increased sales were helped by the early rollout of HD on Freeview.
The regulator also reports that pay-TV platforms are seeing strong interest in their HD services. Sky added 428,000 extra subscribers to its HD service in the first part of the year. The Sky platform now has 2.5 million subscribers. Cable service Virgin Media has reached 939,900 subscribers, while HD receivers account for around 80% of BBC/ITV Freesat sales so far.
