The Communications Market Report: Scotland
Scotland tunes into digital TV but lags on broadband
Scotland tunes into digital TV but lags on broadband
Scotlands broadband take-up is lagging behind the rest of the UK although the picture for broadcasting production and digital TV is more promising.
Broadband take-up remained flat year on year at 61 per cent of homes - 13 percentage points lower than the UK average - and means that Scotland continues to have the lowest broadband take-up of all the UK nations.
Take-up is particularly low in Greater Glasgow (50 per cent), amongst those aged 55+ (34 per cent), by DE social groups (30 per cent), and in households with incomes less than 17.5k per annum (26 per cent).
Scotland is also the only UK nation to experience a decrease in satisfaction with broadband speeds (73 per cent in 2010 compared with 83 per cent in 2009).
However, not all the broadband findings are negative: broadband uptake in Scotland compares well against the UK average among 35-54 year olds (85 per cent compared to the UK average of 83 per cent).
There has also been an increase in the use of mobile broadband with almost one in 10 households now having access to a laptop or PC with a broadband dongle.
There is also evidence of increased network TV production in Scotland.
First-run network productions accounted for 4.6 per cent of UK expenditure, up from 3.6 per cent of total expenditure in 2009.
In terms of volume of TV programming, producers in Scotland delivered 4.6 per cent of all first-run hours during 2010, up from 3.3 per cent twelve months earlier (and up from 1.6 per cent in 2006).
Public Service Broadcasting spend on national and regional TV programming for viewers in Scotland also experienced a slight 1 per cent increase to reach 52m in 2010.
Watching TV over the internet increased by 7 per cent to 35 per cent while digital TV take-up now stands at 97 per cent of TV homes up 6 percentage points since last year.
TV viewing remains high in Scotland, at an average of 4.5 viewing hours per day, compared to a UK average of 4 hours.
Vicki Nash, Director of Ofcom Scotland, said: Despite increasingly sophisticated broadband packages available to more and more Scots, we are less likely than the rest of the UK to take up broadband.
With an ever-increasing range of public services available online and the importance of the digital economy, there is a risk of Scotland being left behind.
TV viewing remains high in Scotland, at an average of 4.5 viewing hours per day, compared to a UK average of 4 hours.
Ninety seven per cent of TV homes have digital TV up 6 per cent on last year.
Watching TV over the internet has increased in Scotland by 7 percentage points to 35 per cent.
Six in ten homes in Scotland have an HD Ready TV set, and over half of these say they have access to HDTV channels.
Some 62 per cent say that TV is their main source of local news ten per cent higher than the UK average.
Public Service Broadcasting spend on national and regional TV programming for viewers in Scotland rose by 1 per cent to reach 52m in 2010.
BBC radio stations accounted for a 45 per cent share of total listening in Scotland lower than its corresponding share in any of the other nations.
In the year ending 31 March 2011, local commercial stations accounted for 40 per cent of total radio listening hours in Scotland, a higher share for this group than in any other UK nation (UK average is 32 per cent).
Three in ten adults in Scotland (31 per cent) who listen to the radio told us they have a DAB radio set at home.
Broadband take-up remained flat year on year at 61 per cent of homes - 13 percentage points lower than the UK average.
Broadband take-up is particularly low in Greater Glasgow (50 per cent), amongst those aged 55+ (34 per cent), by DE social groups (30 per cent), and in households with incomes less than 17.5k per annum (26 per cent).
Broadband uptake in Scotland compares well against the UK average among 35-54 year olds (with 85 per cent uptake in Scotland, compared to the UK average of 83 per cent).
There has also been an increase in the use of mobile broadband with almost one in 10 households (9 per cent) in Scotland now having access to a laptop or PC with a broadband dongle.
A fifth (21 per cent) of adults with a mobile phone in Scotland now own a smartphone, below the UK average of 30 per cent.
Scotland has lower 2G mobile coverage (85 per cent of the population) than the UK average.
3G coverage is higher than in Wales and Northern Ireland with 84 per cent of the population having coverage from at least one operator.
There has been a 6 percentage point rise in the proportion of homes accessing the internet via a mobile phone, although at 21 per cent this is still behind the UK average of 32 per cent.
Scotland had the lowest proportion of homes connected to a fibre-to-the-cabinet enabled exchange in March 2011 at just 7per cent.
Scotland's Communication Market
Television and audio-visual content
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