Throng

Growth of the free-to-air digital broadcasting platform, Freeview, continues to track upwards, according to its latest enabled household figures which illustrate that as of 30th June, 2010, it has broken a significant milestone and is now being enjoyed by viewers in more than a quarter of New Zealand homes.

A total of 419,945 Kiwi households (26.1%) are now enjoying the benefits of crystal clear pictures, new channels, popular content and world-class digital technology for free. The increase in Freeview enabled homes for the last 12 months to June 30, 2010, was 65% from 255,048 homes to 419,945 homes, or a further 10.3% of the population. More specifically, for the second quarter of this year, Freeview satellite and Freeview|HD®. numbers have increased again. An additional 9,639 homes were enabled with Freeview satellite and 33,947 with Freeview|HD®.

Nearly three years after launching, Freeview continues to connect with Kiwis thanks to increases in the number of channels, the imminent prospect of the FIFA Football World Cup being available free-to-air in HD® and continued free-to-air digital technology innovation.

“We’ve moved fairly quickly from five channels to 16 and with the arrival of the MediaWorks alternative music channel, C42 on May the 1st, that number will increase yet again. As well as the new channel, the Football World Cup is now less than 50 days away and some of the games are scheduled to screen live on TV One in HD® while TVNZ 7 will broadcast selected alternative live games plus replays.  So clearly the content that’s not available on analogue TV is proving to be a big part of a really attractive proposition for TV viewers,” says Sam Irvine, Freeview General Manager.

2010 is not only the start of a new decade; it is also the first year of the Freeview Awards.

Launched in March on www.freeviewnz.tv, the Freeview Awards were created to recognise Freeview’s growing popularity and continued success and to acknowledge Freeview broadcasters, manufacturers and retail and technology partners.

The awards celebrate everything from the fantastic programmes and channels provided by Freeview broadcasters to the hard-working retailers and top quality Freeview approved products available to Kiwis throughout the country. And the awards proved extremely popular with over 5000 votes received.

In a year that will most likely be remembered for the economic downturn, Freeview has achieved its highest performing quarter since it launched in 2007.

The sales figures for the final three months of 2009 put the total number of households able to receive Freeview at 346,116. This figure combines the 189,708 Freeview satellite® homes (an increase of 11,791 from the last quarter) and 156,408 Freeview|HD® homes (an increase of 42,354 from the last quarter).

Freeview is now available in 21.6% of homes in New Zealand, an increase of 3.4% on the previous quarter, and can be attributed, in part, to the boost in sales of Freeview|HD® receivers, MyFreeview|HD® digital television recorders and Freeview|HD® integrated digital televisions.

The latest batch of quarterly Freeview figures illustrate that Kiwis are continuing to connect with more free-to-air channels, such as recent addition Prime, improved picture quality, an Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) and no ongoing costs.

The appeal of such features has meant that the Freeview digital and radio broadcast platform continues to increase in popularity, so much so that it is now available in nearly 300,000 Kiwi homes around the country. This is well above forecast and at a quicker rate per capita than the majority of countries which have made the switch to digital television.

Latest sales figures for the three months ending September 2009 show that the total number of households able to receive Freeview is 291,853. This figure consists of 177,917 Freeview satellite® homes and 113,936 Freeview|HD® homes.

Tightened consumer spending, an increase in TV viewing habits and the improved affordability of Freeview|HD® receivers are all paying dividends for Freeview, with its latest round of quarterly figures confirming it is now available in more than a quarter of a million Kiwi homes.

The latest sales figures for the three months ending June 2009 indicate that the total number of households able to receive Freeview is 255,048.

This figure consists of 167,328 Freeview satellite homes (an increase of 11,846 from the last quarter) and 87,720 Freeview|HD® homes (an increase of 17,061 from the last quarter).

“There’s never been a better time to start planning how you change from analogue to digital TV than now by buying either a Freeview|HD® or Freeview satellite receiver ,” says Sam Irvine, General Manager, Freeview.

Rick Friesen, Chair of the board of Freeview, today announced the appointment of Sam Irvine as General Manager for Freeview.

“Sam has been Marketing Manager for Freeview since December, 2006. He has been an important part of Freeview’s successful development and his skills in the position made him the ideal candidate to take on the role of General Manager,” said Mr Friesen.
“The entire Freeview board expressed complete confidence in Sam and are convinced the organisation will continue its strong growth under his leadership” said Mr. Friesen.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr. Irvine said “I’m really looking forward to the prospect of embracing future technology and content so that Freeview can continue to offer consumers the best value for money possible.”

More than 14% of homes in New Zealand now have Freeview, the free to air digital television and radio platform, according to figures released today. This equates to nearly 10,000 new homes a month (or 72,000 new viewers over the quarter) now enjoying the benefits of crystal clear free-to-air digital television.

The latest sales figures for the three months ending March, 2009, indicate that the total households now reached by Freeview is  226,141, or 14.1% of permanent households. This figure is made up of the Freeview satellite service which launched in May 2007 (155,482 or 9.7%) and the Freeview|HDTM service, which launched in April last year (70,659 or 4.4%).