MUMBAI: A total of 25.1 million households in the United Kingdom were receiving digital TV across all platforms in the fourth quarter in 2012, marking an increase of almost five per cent from the year before.

The Digital Television Update report by the British media watchdog Ofcom says digital TV is now received in 98 per cent of UK households following the completion of digital switchover last October.

A total of 75 per cent households watched TV over digital terrestrial signals in the fourth quarter of 2012, an increase of 0.5 percentage points on the fourth quarter of 2011. In the fourth quarter of 2012, 54 per cent households subscribed to pay TV, up by two percentage points on the same period in 2011. A total of 37 per cent households subscribed to pay satellite in the fourth quarter of 2012, the same proportion in the corresponding period in 2011. A total of 13 per cent households subscribed to cable in fourth quarter of 2012, which was the same proportion in the corresponding period in 2011.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, 3.4 per cent households had multi-channel platforms other than digital terrestrial, satellite and cable, up by 1.4 percentage points on the same period in 2011.

There were an estimated 2.12 million free-to-view digital satellite households in the fourth quarter of 2012, up from 2.04 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the survey data.