Freesat reaches 100,000 sales in five months

freesat

Some 100,000 boxes have been sold since the service launched on May 6th, and while that figure does include sales of the sole standard-def Freesat box, our sources confirm a healthy majority of that figure is Freesat HD boxes.

To put that in context, sales of Sky+ HD set-top boxes stood at 498,000 in the year to June 30th 2008.

Emma Scott, MD of Freesat says: “There's no denying how much people enjoy watching in high definition once they see it for themselves and the success of Freesat proves that.

Unfortunately there are still a lot of people out there who think they're already watching in HD because they have an HD ready TV – but they aren't.”

“It needn't be complicated or costly. For those people that already have a satellite dish installed, they may simply be able to take their Freesat digital box or integrated TV home and plug it straight in.”

Freesat is looking forward to the release of its Freesat+ PVR in November, as we reported on Thursday, while promising more channels and more boxes from new manufacturers.

The company's autumn schedule boasts UEFA Champions League, England World Cup qualifiers and FA Cup football on ITV HD exclusive to Freesat, plus content such as Heroes and Strictly Come Dancing from BBC HD.