UK firm BSKYB, which provides digital satellite services in the Republic, said yesterday it had added 39,000 customers here in the past six months, bringing its subscriber base to 232,000. This growth means the firm provides TV services to almost a quarter of Irish households, and now rivals Chorus as the State's second-biggest pay TV firm.
The figures do not take full account of the firm's recent content deal with terrestrial channels RTÉ, TV3 and TG4, which made the Sky platform more attractive for consumers from April 23rd.
BSkyB's results also highlight the financial challenges faced by rival cable firms NTL and Chorus. This week Chorus reported losses of €36.6 million during 2001, and NTL filed for bankruptcy protection in the US.
In contrast, BSkyB reported yesterday that core profits ballooned by a third in the first nine months of its year and customers of collapsed British broadcaster ITV Digital were defecting to its satellite TV service. BSkyB topped forecasts with operating profit before goodwill rising 33 per cent to £129 million sterling (€206.5 million) in the nine months to end-March from a year ago, driven by stronger-than-expected growth in digital customers.
Direct-to-home subscribers, which excludes those homes that watch Sky channels via cable and terrestrial operators, rose to 5.89 million at the end of March on a net gain of 171,000 in the quarter, beating analysts' forecasts of 150,000.
BSkyB targets seven million subscribers by the end of 2003.
BSkyB, 36 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, also revealed it had not made any move to acquire free-to-air station Channel Five since the British government threw open the UK's terrestrial television market earlier this week.
BSkyB has made no secret of its ambition to buy a terrestrial TV station - one whose signal is received through rooftop aerials - to add to its satellite empire.
