Half-Year Profit Drops at Sky

LONDON, January 31: BSkyB’s profits for the first half of
this year fell by 10.2 percent to £246 million on improved revenues of £2.2
billion.

“In the last six months we have achieved a number of
important milestones in building our business for the future,” said James
Murdoch, the platform’s chief executive. "Sales of new Sky boxes were the
highest for six years, Sky+ broke through the two million barrier and Sky HD
almost doubled in size after a strong Christmas sales period. With over one in
four of our customers now taking an additional service from Sky, more people
are choosing more of our products than ever before.”

He continued, "At the end of our first full quarter as
a broadband provider, benefits are starting to flow through the business. Sky
Broadband is attracting new and existing customers with more than two-thirds
opting for our faster, paid-for products. The rollout of our all-IP broadband
network is progressing ahead of schedule. As a result, we now reach more
households than the entire U.K. cable network with our "See, Speak,
Surf" combination of TV, telephony and broadband products.”

At the end of the year, Sky had 8.44 million customers, with
a net addition of 183,000 in the fourth quarter. Sky+ households were 1.97
million by year end, and multiroom subscriptions rose by 133,000 to 1.23
million. HD customers amounted to 184,000, and there are 193,000 broadband
customers. Telephony customers at the end of the year were up to 223,000. Churn
rose for the year to 11.9 percent.