Sky Deutschland Reports Revenue Hike, Customer Growth

UNTERFÖHRING: Sky Deutschland reported revenue of 421 million euros ($586 million) for Q1, up 16 percent from a year ago, and added 64,000 subs in the quarter to reach 3.73 million.

Subscription revenues were the key driver for the quarter, up 14 percent to 384 million euros ($535 million). This was bolstered by higher subscriber numbers as well as an increase in ARPU of 1.43 euros ($1.99) to 34.48 euros ($48). Higher costs of 429 million euros ($597 million) resulted in negative EBITDA of 8.6 million euros ($12 million) for Q1. This includes costs related to enhanced Bundesliga rights as well as additional costs for one extra match day of the Bundesliga.

For 2014, Sky confirmed that it expects subscriber net growth of 400,000 to 450,000, and full year EBITDA in the range of 70 million euros ($97.5 million) to 90 million euros ($125 million), which would be supported by a continued strong increase in total revenues.

Brian Sullivan, the CEO of Sky Deutschland, said: "We had a strong start to 2014. Never before has Sky seen higher levels of customer loyalty. With solid gross additions, churn rates at record lows and a steadily growing number of customers across all product categories, we have clearly shown the increasing appeal of our outstanding entertainment offering."