Premiere Confirms Rebrand

MUNICH: Premiere AG, which today revealed a first-quarter loss of 80 million euros, has confirmed that it will relaunch its German and Austrian pay-TV platform as Sky this summer.

Announcing the move, the company, in which News Corporation owns a 30.5-percent stake, said it would launch a new pay-TV service, branded Sky, this July to replace the existing Premiere platform. Chief executive Mark Williams said: “We intend to make changes that will fundamentally improve the experience for customers. Becoming Sky underscores our commitment to offer a world-class entertainment service in Germany and Austria. The Sky brand stands for the best choice of television entertainment available, giving customers high-quality programming that they cannot find elsewhere, putting innovative services into their homes and improving satisfaction with strong customer service. The changes will begin in July and customers have much to look forward to in the coming months and years.”

Subject to approval by shareholders, the name of the company will be changed from Premiere AG to Sky Deutschland AG. The rebrand will result in the company having to write-off the value of the Premiere trademark in the second quarter, taking a charge of 331.6 million euros, offset by the release of deferred tax liabilities of 75.5 million euros. The Sky brand and associated trademarks have been licensed from BSkyB. Existing customers will not be affected. Details on new pricing and packages will be release in early June.

Premiere also released its first quarter results today, recording stable revenues of 232.7 million euros, while its net loss increased from Q1 last year of 28.1 million euros to 80 million euros. The platform ended the period with 2.37 million subscribers, a reduction of 28,000 from the end of 2008, and registered a monthly ARPU of 24.85 euros. “Our Q1 results are in line with our expectations," Williams said. "We expect subscriber growth to commence only in the second half of this year following our comprehensive sales, marketing and customer service initiatives.”