There was lots of doom and gloom mutterings about the ITV Digital fiasco - analogue switch off just not going to happen; DTT is a dead technology; five channels are enough for me.

And then there is the reality. One year on (Freeview was a year old yesterday) it's looking different.

According to a report in the Media Guardian, set top box sales have doubled in the past fortnight. It's now estimated that 2.5m homes will have DTT by the end of the year.

There's still a long way before it overtakes Sky, but (so far at least) it vindicates those companies who saw the potential in free-to-air television as a mass market television medium for the future.

The proof of whether it all worked will be if analogue can be turned off in 2010, but with the price of set top boxes falling all the time, and new channels on the way from Setanta Sport and the Disney group, the future looks bright.