[Satellite TODAY 08-20-10] U.K. media consumers are spending about 45 percent of their waking hours watching TV as well as using mobile phones and other communications devices, according to a research report released Aug. 19 by U.K. communications regulator Ofcom.
    The report shows consumers often use multiple devices at the same time, cramming 8 hours 48 minutes of media into just over seven hours during the average day. About 29 percent of media activity is simultaneous among consumers between the ages of 16 and 24, compared to about 12 percent for people older than 55, the report said.
    However, Ofcom found that in 2009, older age groups drove growth in Internet take-up. About half of consumers over the age of 55 have broadband at home and consider e-mail to be the most important media activity, with 36 percent using e-mail each day and 47 percent using e-mail at least once a week.
    About 22 percent of the population said they bought a HD-ready TV set in the last 12 months and sales of HD-ready TV sets have now passed 24 million in the United Kingdom, with 5million households signed up to HD services through pay-TV, Freesat and Freeview services.
    The research also revealed a large increase in data use. Total data volumes over the UK’s Internet infrastructure increased by 68 percent and data volumes over mobile networks increase by 240 percent.