4 May 2005
Digital TV broadcaster BSkyB has raised the subscription benchmark by reporting a pre-tax profit surge in its third quarter of 95,000 subscribers.
The figure is substantially ahead of analyst estimates and is expected to cause a tide of concern to sweep through rival UK multichannel TV suppliers.
Pre-tax profit excluding goodwill and exceptional items for the quarter ending March 31 rose to £209 million from £135 million a year previously. Revenues rose by nine per cent to £1.02 billion.
Subscription figures were shown be above 7.7 million, a statistic Sky has claimed is well in line with the target of eight million by December 31st 2005.
The news provides some relief for bosses of BSkyB who have seen the group's dominance of the market grow under increasing pressure from the subscription-free Freeview platform.
Subscriber figures for Freeview are reportedly up to around five million.
Compare digital TV suppliers and packages at uSwitch.com now.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
Content for the uSwitch.com market news service is provided by a third party, Adfero Ltd. Whilst uSwitch.com makes reasonable efforts to check the reliability of this content, uSwitch.com does not guarantee the accuracy thereof or endorse the views or opinions given by Adfero Ltd, unless expressly stated otherwise.