Sky Reports Strong Subscriber Gains

LONDON, May 2: BSkyB is hailing the success of its
triple-play “See, Speak, Surf” initiative for the nine months that ended March
31, 2007, with net customer growth of 51,000, a 28-percent gain on the year-ago
period, bringing the platform’s base to 8.492 million subscribers.

The platform also noted gains in Sky+ households, which were
up by 34 percent to 2.167 million—a 25 percent penetration achieved three
years ahead of schedule. Sky also added 244,000 HD subscribers in the period.
Sky Broadband customers more than doubled to 553,000, and Sky Talk customers
were up 83 percent to 408,000. ARPU rose to £406. The platform also noted an
increase in churn to 13.7 percent, despite its strong subscriber gains.

BSkyB reported revenues of £3.4 billion, with a profit of
£388 million, down from the year-ago period’s net income of £425 million.

Chief executive James Murdoch commented: “Customer response
to our 'See, Speak, Surf' campaign has been very encouraging. Total sales of
our TV, broadband and telephony products surpassed 1 million for the second
consecutive quarter and now exceed 3 million in the year to date, an increase
of more than 50 percent on the prior year and almost double that of two years
ago. In just eight months, Sky Broadband has passed the milestone of 500,000
customers who are enjoying fast speeds, wireless access and significant
savings. Our network now reaches over 60 percent of U.K. homes and we are on
track for our goal of more than 700,000 broadband customers by the end of June.”

Murdoch continued: “Our investments in customer service,
value and quality are driving more customers to choose more services from Sky
than ever before. Changes to our retention and acquisition strategy are
delivering valuable benefits to the quality and profitability of our business.
We are delivering on our multi-product strategy and customers are responding in
record numbers.”