Freesat misses 2 million mark despite strong growth

Subscription-free satellite service Freesat added 24,000 new customers in the last months of 2014. 

Thanks in part to the Freetime service that offers streamlined access to catch-up content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and YouTube, Freesat enjoyed a strong quarter of growth but it’s still a little shy of cracking 2 million British homes. 

Alistair Thom, who has taken over from Emma Scott as managing director said: Although the UK television market has never been more competitive, Freesat’s commitment to delivering a great experience through easy to use technology has enabled our persistent growth. 

“With exciting new premieres coming soon including Indian Summers on Channel 4 and The Casual Vacancy on BBC One, our plans for 2015 will ensure that our customers continue to get the very best out of free to view TV.” 

Other new additions to Freesat’s Freetime service in 2014 include Hopster, an on-demand subscription service designed specifically for children and Curzon Home Cinema for cineastes who don’t live in London. 

Freetime set top boxes and TVs now accounts for nearly 50 per cent of all new Freesat sales. 

Just over a year ago, Freesat launched a remote record iOS app for Freetime boxes that let customers manage recordings and watch catch-up TV on the go. 

Since then it’s been launched for Android devices and Amazon’s Kindle tablets and has been downloaded over 500,000 times.