ITV Impairment Charge Hits Sky Results

LONDON, April 30: For the
nine months ended March 31, 2008, BSkyB reported a loss of £118 million, versus
the profit of £388 million in the year-ago period, due to an impairment charge
of £474 million relating to its investment in ITV.

The platform did, however,
record revenue and subscriber growth. There were 56,000 net additions in the
quarter to reach 8.89 million subscribers, with its lowest Q3 churn in four
years of 10.5 percent, and ARPU was up to £424. Sky+ households were up by
262,000 to 3.39 million, and multiroom subscriptions gained 40,000 to 1.57
million. HD subs were up to 465,000, broadband customers increased to 1.43
million and Sky Talk phone subscribers gained 180,000 to 1.1 million.

Revenues increased by 10
percent on the comparable period to £3.7 billion, with an operating profit of
£504 million, down 18 percent on last year.

The platform’s chief
executive, Jeremy Darroch, said: "We are reporting a strong set of results
today. We are delivering for customers through a combination of great quality,
value and service. As a result, more customers are choosing Sky, they are more
satisfied and they are taking more products than ever before. In the third
quarter, despite a difficult consumer environment, customer growth increased by
10 percent on last year and third-quarter churn was at a four-year low. The
success of our strategy is reflected in our financial performance. Revenue
growth of 10 percent, increased quarterly profitability and reducing broadband
losses put us on track to achieve our targets."

—By Mansha Daswani