However, there was little sign of World Cup fever at ITV, which is the only commercial broadcaster transmitting games from the football tournament.

DSG is selling a wide-screen television every 15 seconds and that is expected to increase as the World Cup approaches.

Underlying sales in the UK and the Irish Republic rose by 9 per cent in the 24 weeks to April 29 compared with a 2 per cent fall in the previous six months. The rise came as appetites grew for televisions with high definition technology and as the switchover from analogue to digital approaches in 2008. ITV plans to show World Cup games in the high definition format as part of a special trial.

Despite the strong sales of televisions, ITV admitted that June bookings for advertising were “less encouraging than expected”, and are thought to be down by about 3 per cent at the flagship ITV1 channel. Charles Allen, chief executive, said ITV was outperforming an advertising market suffering from “weak fundamentals”, with Channel 4 estimated to be down 18 per cent in June. He said there was “good support” from traditional football advertisers, such as beer producers and carmakers, but that other categories were weak as brands with little to gain from a link to sport stayed away. Fashion and other retailers are thought to have shown little support.

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, played down hopes of a strong revival in retail sales. He said an “unusual sporting tournament” would affect sales comparisons but he added: “It doesn’t affect the long-run level. It’s a timing effect, and I think again it shows we mustn’t get carried away with one month’s numbers.”

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