Digital TV penetration in the United Kingdom has reached 77 percent, according to a report from communications regulator Ofcom. In the fourth quarter, another million households went digital, bringing the overall total to nearly 20 million. At the end of 2005, the number of digital TV households in the United Kingdom was around 18 million.

According to Ofcom, the total number of satellite homes has reached 8.8 million, but more than 70 percent of the overall growth in the fourth quarter was attributed to the addition of digital terrestrial television (DTT), bringing the total number of DTT households to 7.7 million.

At current growth rates, DTT will overtake satellite as the leading digital platform in the United Kingdom in either the second or third quarter of 2007.