Sky Deutschland Plans for $394 Million Capital Injection

MUNICH: Sky Deutschland, which has surpassed the 3 million subscriber mark, plans to raise 300 million euros ($394 million) this year to finance investments in exclusive new content and innovative products and services.

Sky Deutschland’s subscriber base reached 3.012 million at the end of 2011, by adding 359,000 customers, almost twice the net growth of 2010 (183,000). This marks the highest net growth in the company’s history. Churn decreased to 11 percent (down from the same period in 2010, of 16.2 percent). Take-up for Sky’s Premium HD service continued to grow, increasing 60 percent to 974,000. The Sky+ DVR also saw a boost. At the end of 2011, there were 411,000 Sky+ customers, marking a tenfold increase from the previous year’s end. Sky Go, which launched in April 2011, gained 594,000 active users in just nine months and achieved more than 4 million unique viewer sessions in the fourth quarter alone.

The customer growth and increased demand for Sky services led to a strong financial performance at the company. In 2011 revenues increased 17 percent to 1.139 million euros. EBITDA improved 42 percent to negative 155 million euros. ARPU further increased by 1.77 euros to 30.46 euros.

The plans are to raise 300 million euros in 2012 to support new growth efforts.This includes high-quality and exclusive content; new innovative products and services, including bringing Sky Go customers via the iPhone and launching dedicated children’s programming on Sky Anytime and Sky Go; and more investment in technology, processes and people that bolster customer service.

Brian Sullivan, the CEO of Sky Deutschland, commented: “In 2011 we delivered a number of key milestones in building our business for a profitable future. Overall our results reflect the best performance in the history of the company: we are attracting new customers at the fastest pace ever, and customer satisfaction and recommendation levels are at all-time highs.

“While we remain cautious in these uncertain economic times, we have a clear vision for continued growth: to serve existing customers and attract new ones by delivering great value, high-quality and exclusive content, new and exciting innovations and continued improvements to our customer service. To have over 3 million customers actively choosing Sky is a fantastic achievement but we expect more to come and there is still more to do. The additional funding announced today will support us to further drive these efforts, to continue building an exciting service for our customers and a valuable business for our shareholders.”