BSkyB Losses Fall As Subscriber Growth Continues
Q3 results from BSkyB released today reveal revenue increases of 24% and net subscriber growth of 190,000 bringing BSkyB’s DTH subscriber total to 5.49 million.
The company reported an 8% increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) to £317, bringing it closer to its 2005 target of £400. Interactive ARPU was £13, an increase of 44% on the comparable period. This was largely due to telephone betting, the internet and iTV revenues.
BSkyB’s 22% stake in Kirch (see BSkyB To Hold Off Sale Of Kirch Stake, Say Reports), for which the company paid £312 million last year, cost BSkyB £29 million in the three months to September. BSkyB has a ‘put’ option to sell its stake back to Kirch if the latter underperforms; however, in the statement this morning, Sky warned that “there is no certainty that the resources of Kirch Holding will be sufficient to satisfy the put option if exercised.”
BSkyB lost 77,000 subscribers when it switched off its analogue signal earlier this year (see BSkyB To Cease Analogue Broadcast This Summer) and digital churn for the year rose from 10% to 10.4%. Still, total digital subscribers rose by 190,000 to 5.49 million.
| Subscribers To Sky Channels | ||||
| Prior Year Q1 2000/01 as at 30/09/00 | Q4 2000/01 as at 30/06/01 | Q1 2001/02 as at 30/09/01 | Net change in the quarter | |
| DTH | ||||
| Digital | 4,083,000 | 5,308,000 | 5,498,000 | 190,000 |
| Analogue | 640,000 | 145,000 | 0 | -145,000 (ii) |
| Total DTH | 4,723,000 | 5,453,000 | 5,498,000 | 45,000 |
| Cable | 3,052,000 | 2,865,000 | 2,914,000 | 49,000 |
| DTT | 846,000 | 1,105,000 | 1,178,000 | 73,000 |
| Total UK | 8,621,000 | 9,423,000 | 9,590,000 | 167,000 |
| Cable – Eire | 617,000 | 621,000 | 602,000 | -19,000 |
| Total UK & Eire | 9,238,000 | 10,044,000 | 10,192,000 | 148,000 |
| DTH churn rate for year to date (annualised) | 9.80% | 10.00% | 10.4%(i) | |
| Source: BSkyB, 11/01 | ||||
(i): Excludes analogue churn up to 27 September 2001 and the effect of the termination of the analogue service on 27 September 2001. Total churn including analogue churn and the termination of the analogue service was 18.4%. (ii): Represents the aggregate of: (i) subscribers who transitioned to the digital service during the quarter, (ii) analogue churn up to 27 September and (iii) the 77,000 subscribers whose contracts terminated on 27 September.
Tony Ball, chief executive of BSkyB, said: “We have achieved our goal of becoming a fully digital service. Sky continues to attract high quality subscribers and to deliver strong revenue and profit growth despite the difficult advertising market. This is the sixth successive quarter in which we have increased year on year profitability and we remain on track to deliver positive free cashflow for the second half of the financial year.”
By 11.30am today shares in BSkyB had risen from 764p to 790p.
Source: MediaTel Insight