The number of Freeview homes is set to top the number of households with a Sky subscription by the end of next year, which is quite an achievement for the terrestrial TV platform starting, as it did, so far behind the satellite broadcaster (though, obviously, its one-off-fee product is a bit easier to sell).
That claim is based on the fact that if Freeview set-top boxes continue to sell as fast in 2005 as they have done in 2004 then the service should be in 8 million homes by the end of next year - and that is the number of homes Sky reckon they will reach at that time.
Freeview's rapid growth is good for the free-to-air digital channels which are enjoying ever growing audience reach. It is also good news for Top-up TV, the company who provide pay-per-view TV services through the Freeview network. They reckon that, given the growth of Freeview, they should easily pass their break even target of 250,000 customers in the next two years.