International media concern News Corp will boost its stake in German pay-TV operator Sky Deutschland. As part of a capital increase, through which the broadcaster will gain €110-120m, News Corp’s participation will rise from 39.96% to up to 45.4%.
Sky says it will use the cash injection to launch further initiatives to accelerate its subscription growth. This includes new marketing and sales offensives, expanding its HDTV offer, investments in programme content and the launch of new channels.
The broadcaster’s outlook remains sobering: In the fourth quarter of 2009, Sky anticipates a net growth of a mere 40,000 to 65,000 subscribers. This means that, despite containing the important Christmas sales period, the company expects lower subscription sales than in the preceding third quarter in which 67,000 new customers were added. At the end of 2009, Sky anticipates having a total of 2.47 to 2.50 million subscribers.
The new management headed by Mark Williams hoped to significantly increase subscriber numbers through the re-branding of Premiere into Sky on July 4, launching a revised package and pricing structure and a €100m-strong advertising campaign, but the third quarter results disappointed both the stock market and analysts. In early December, Williams announced he will resign from the CEO post on March 31 2010, and will be replaced by BskyB staffer Brian Sullivan.
