Popularity of HD services helps profits to rocket
A RUSH on Sky’s HD services helped to more than double its profits in the last nine months.
An astonishing 428,000 viewers signed up to its HD services, a leap of 76 per cent year-on-year.
The surge dragged the average annual customer spend over the £500 mark for the first time. The broadcaster will hope to build on this success with the 3D services currently being rolled out. The number of subscribers signing up to television, broadband and telephone services rose to almost a fifth of Sky’s customers.
Its profits increased from £339m to £707m year-on-year, while revenue rose 11 per cent to £4.4bn. It added an extra 62,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year, meaning it now beams into 9.77m homes – double its closest rival Virgin.
Sky reached 2.5m broadband subscribers, consolidating its position as the fourth biggest ISP in the UK.
However, it still made a £6m loss on broadband and telephone services, down from £35m a year earlier.
It was also revealed Sky is on track to spend a staggering £1bn this year on advertising. It’s first quarter spend was £286m, 32 per cent higher than the year before.