Sky reaches seven-million subscriber target early

Five years to the day since Sky digital was launched, BSkyB have announced that they have achieved their target of seven million direct-to-home (DTH) satellite subscribers by the end of calendar year 2003, three months earlier than expected.
As of September 30 2003, the number of DTH satellite subscribers in the UK and Ireland was 7,015,000. Since launching their digital service on October 1 1998, Sky have migrated the whole of their analogue subscriber base to digital and doubled the size of their DTH subscriber base.
BSkyB’s key operational targets for the medium term are to reach eight million DTH subscribers by the end of calendar year 2005; and to increase average revenue per user to £400 by the same date.
Commenting on this achievement, BSkyB Chief Executive Tony Ball said: “When we set the seven million target over three years ago it was way ahead of market expectations. Reaching the milestone three months early is a fantastic achievement for the company and I congratulate the excellent team that has made it possible. With more than half of UK households yet to make the switch to digital, I am highly confident that Sky will achieve its next target of eight million subscribers by the end of 2005, and generate significant long term growth thereafter.”
(GB)