BSKYB REACH FIVE MILLION SUBSCRIBERS

BSKYB have announced that they have achieved their five-million subscriber target early as the company reports 5,051,000 subscribers for the six months ended December, 31 2000.
Tony Ball, Chief Executive of BSkyB, said: “The success of Sky digital has been underlined by our record digital growth over the past six months and the early achievement of our target of five million DTH subscribers by the end of 2000. We are continuing to innovate with the launch of new interactive services that will increase our revenues and maintain low churn. Sky customers now benefit from the world’s most developed interactive television service.”
The total number of UK and Eire subscribers to Sky’s channels increased by 512,000 to 9,750,000 in just three months.
The penetration of Sky channels grew to 36.2 per cent of UK television homes compared to the same period in the prior year. This contributed to the 18 per cent growth in advertising revenues in the period.
Sky’s audience share continued to rise as that of terrestrial channels declined. Sky channels share of viewing in all UK homes for the quarter increased by 26 per cent on the comparable period, from 4.5 per cent to 5.7 per cent. Multi-channel television has more than doubled its share of the commercial audience since 1995 to reach 19.2 per cent of commercial impacts in 2000, reflecting the rapid take up of Sky digital in the last 12 months.
Total subscriber revenues increased by £177 million, on the same period last year, to £861 million. DTH revenues increased by £179 million to £715 million following a two per cent increase in the average revenue per subscriber and a 29 per cent increase in the average number of subscribers.
Advertising revenue increased by £20 million to £134 million, primarily driven by a 5.1 percentage point increase in Sky channels penetration of UK TV homes to 36.2 per cent.
An operating cash outflow of £86 million, capital expenditure of £47 million, joint venture funding of £74 million and net increase payment of £55 million resulted in net debt increasing by £295 million to £1,440 million. The net interest charge increased by £28 million to £64 million reflecting increased average borrowings in the period, the Group’s share of KirchPayTV interest which was not in the comparable period, and an increased share of British Interactive Broadcasting Holdings Limited (BiB) interest expense. (CD)