Sky+ HD breaks through the million barrier

There are now more than one million Sky customers watching in high-definition, after record sales in the first three months of this year saw one Sky+ HD box sold every 30 seconds.

Thanks to an expanding HD channel line-up and a low set-top box price of £49, the number of Sky+ HD customers grew by 243,000 in the first three months of 2009.

By March 31st 2009, the total number of Sky+ HD customers stood at 1,022,000, up from 465,000 a year earlier.

Stephen van Rooyen, Sky's director of product management, says: "The growth of HD is really starting to take off as more people discover the difference in picture and sound quality."

A side effect of the increasing popularity of Sky+ HD is the growing popularity of the Sky+ personal video recorder technology, which comes as standard in all Sky+ HD boxes.

Sky+, which allows viewers to pause and rewind live TV and record two programmes simultaneously, is now installed in more than five million UK homes.