BskyB increased its subscriber numbers by 6,000 over the third quarter compared with the same period last year, according to company figures released today.
The number of subscribers increased from 604,000 in the third quarter last year to 610,000 in the same quarter of this year.
Overall, the company says net subscribers rose across Britain and the Republic of Ireland by 150,000 to 6.7 million, resulting in a increase in revenues by 23 per cent to £1.7 billion.
The annualised average revenue per subscriber in the quarter was £364 sterling, an increase of 7 per cent over the same quarter last year and £13 higher than for the quarter to December 31st, 2002.
In addition to ordinary subscribers, as of March 31st, there were 137,000 subscribers to the Extra Digibox and 79,000 subscribers to Sky+, representing increases of 17 per cent and 21 per cent respectively over the quarter.
Churn, a measure of how many subscribers leave the service, dropped to a record low of 9.3 per cent.
Despite tightening advertising markets the company increased advertising revenues by 15 per cent to £204 million with overall profits before tax of £169 million.