LONDON -- Audiences for terrestrial channels BBC1 and BBC2 fell below the symbolic barriers of 25% and 10% of all TV viewing respectively in 2004, while the combined audience for non-terrestrial TV channels overtook BBC1 and ITV1 for the first time, according to U.K. ratings body, BARB.
Over the year, the multichannel share was 26.3% -- up from 23.6%. BBC1 fell from 25.6% to 24.7%, while ITV1 dropped from 23.7% to 22.8%.
The year's biggest dipper was BBC2, now being repositioned upscale. Its share fell from 11% to just under 10%.
Over the Christmas period, all of Blighty's terrestrial webs, except Five, registered a decline in viewing share.
In the second week of the festive fortnight (week ending Jan. 2) satcaster BSkyB recorded its highest ever weekly share of TV viewing, accounting for 9.6% of viewing.
Its previous high of 8.35% was recorded during the Iraq war in March 2003.
It was also the first week in which BSkyB achieved a higher share of the TV audience than Channel 4 across a full week.
Sky Movie's top performer of the festive fortnight was the British premiere of the Jim Carrey pic, "Bruce Almighty," aired on Jan. 1, and watched by 1.7 million.
-- Steve Clarke
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