Freeview clocks up 300,000 set-top sales

The BBC-backed digital television service, Freeview, is emerging as a rapid success with nearly a third of a million set-top decoder machines sold in the first two months since its 30 October launch.

More than 300,000 set-top boxes, which enable users to receive some 30 channels free of charge, were sold in the nine-week period to the end of December.

In those first two months, sales of the Freeview boxes, which sell for £99 a time, averaged around 33,333 a week, according to data from retailers and manufacturers. Over that same period, almost 2 million requests for information on Freeview were made – comprising 700,000 calls to the telephone information line and 1.2 million visits to the website.

The latest set of figures mean the launch of the service has already eclipsed that of its forerunner ITV Digital, which won around 110,000 users in the 16 weeks following its launch in 1999.

Peter Abery, the president and managing director of Crown Castle International, said: "It's very encouraging to see that the Freeview channel package is proving attractive and converting significant numbers of viewers to digital television."

Freeview is a partnership between the BBC, British Sky Broadcasting and the transmission company Crown Castle.

The figures were released a day after the ITV companies Granada and Carlton Communications agreed to pay nearly £3m to cover the cost of about 990,000 outstanding ITV Digital boxes and subscriptions. The move means former customers of ITV Digital, who had faced a £39.99 bill if they had wanted to keep their set-top boxes, can keep the equipment for free.

It also means that the ITV companies look set to safeguard the £12m a year they receive as part of their "digital dividend". The pair get a tax rebate for every viewer who watches television through digital transmissions.