ONdigital's growth slowed throughout 2000, and by the start of 2001 the number of subscribers stopped increasing; meanwhile, its competitor Sky Digital was still growing. The ONdigital management team responded with a series of free set top box promotions, initially at retailers such as Currys and Dixons, when ONdigital receiving equipment was purchased at the same time as a television set or similarly priced piece of equipment. These offers eventually became permanent, with the set-top box loaned to the customer at no charge for as long as they continued to subscribe to ONdigital. This offer was matched by Sky. ONdigital's churn rate, a measure of the number of subscribers leaving the service, reached 28% during 2001.