UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB yesterday announced results for the three months to end-December 2008 well ahead of expectations, including increases in customer additions, revenue and profits.
The company added 171,000 customers in the quarter, up 2 per cent on customer additions in the same quarter last year. Churn – the rate at which customers leave – was reduced from 10.9 per cent to 9.9 per cent. BSkyB now has 9.238 million customers in the UK.
Customers subscribing to BSkyB’s HD service increased 188,000 in the quarter, to 779,000. The company cut the cost of its HD set-top box from £199 to £49, the new price coming into effect from yesterday.
BSkyB revenues increased for the six months to 31 December 2008 were £2.6 billion, a 6-per-cent increase on the same period last year. EBITDA was £522 million, up 26 per cent on 2007.
BSkyB announced that it would be creating 1,000 new customer service jobs to meet the demand from new subscribers.
