Sky Reports Loss for Fiscal ’08

LONDON, July 31: Reporting a £499 million profit this time last year, BSkyB has recorded a loss of £127 million for the year ended June 30, 2008—despite a 9-percent increase in revenues to £4.95 billion—as a result of a ?616 million impairment charge relating to its ITV investment.

The platform posted a subscriber gain of 92,000 in the fourth quarter to reach 8.98 million customers. Churn was down to 9.8 percent and ARPU was up to ?427. The customer base included 3.7 million Sky+ PVR subscribers, 1.6 million Multiroom users, 498,000 signed up to Sky+ HD, 1.6 million subscribing to broadband services and 1.2 million receiving Sky’s telephony service.

Announcing the results, Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s chief executive, noted: “We have continued to grow strongly in a more difficult consumer environment. More customers are choosing Sky for a broader range of products and are staying with us for longer. While there is much uncertainty around the consumer environment, there remains good headroom for profitable growth in our core sectors. We are well equipped to meet customers’ demands for quality, choice and value; and we have a strong financial model to deliver growth and returns.”

—By Mansha Daswani