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At the end of 2006, 48.5% were connected. This is up from 44.7% recorded in the previous quarter and 39% recorded at the end of 2005.

During the last quarter of 2006, a further 1m homes acquired digital television for the first time. In total, 77.2% of homes now have some kind of digital television, up from 73.3% in the third quarter of 2006 and 69.5% at the end of 2005.

This quarter also saw continued growth in the number of secondary sets converted to digital. Over 9m second sets are now connected to a digital device, up from 7.9m in the third quarter of 2006 and just over 6m a year ago.

The report shows that more Freeview devices were sold than in any previous quarter at 2.4m, up 24% when compared with the fourth quarter 2005. This included almost 1m TVs with integrated digital tuners sold during the quarter, a record amount. Freeview set-top boxes accounted for the other 1.4m sales.

Some 700,000 analogue terrestrial homes acquired Freeview for the first time during fourth quarter 2006, accounting for 70% of the growth in digital television during the quarter. Freeview devices are now in 10.6m homes, up from 9.3m in the third quarter 2006, 7.7m of which are connected to the main set in the home, typically in the living room. Over 25% of the UK's television sets are now connected to a Freeview device.

The satellite platform added more than 200,000 homes in the quarter and is now installed in almost 9m homes. Of this number, Sky gained approximately 160,000 new subscribers, increasing its presence to almost 8m homes.

Ofcom said 35% of homes now have satellite TV as its main set in the household, more than any other platform. This compares with  34% at the end of 2005. BSkyB gained an additional 133,000 multi-room subscribers during the quarter, taking the total to 1.2m.

Cable providers such as Virgin Media gained around 38,500 additional television households over the three months to December 2006. This was the highest number of quarterly cable additions since the first quarter of 2004. There are now more than 3.3m cable television households in the UK.

As of December 2006, 90% of all cable television households were digital, up from 82% in December 2005. There are now more than 3.3m cable television households representing 13.3% of all television households, which is up from 13.1% in the third quarter 2006.