© 2010 Rapid TV News
Sue Tabbitt ©RapidTVNews | 29-07-2010
BSkyB’s expansion into value-added TV services continues to pay dividends, boosting subscriptions and yielding a three-fold rise in profits.
Pre-tax profit for the year ending June 30 more than tripled compared to 2008-9, reaching £878m, as revenue hit £5.9bn, a rise of more than 10% on the previous 12 months. Numbers of HD customers doubled over the year, with 429,000 existing customers upgrading between April and June alone. Some 90,000 new customers signed up to Sky TV services during the quarter, taking the total to 9.86 million.
Sky also confirmed the launch date of its 3D TV channel to millions of homes as October 1. The service, Europe’s first 3D channel, will be available to any Sky+HD home with a 3D-ready TV. No set-top box upgrade is required.
The broadcaster has agreements with Disney, Fox, Universal, Warner Brothers, Paramount and DreamWorks for 3D content. Live sport in 3D will include Premier League football.
Meanwhile, BSkyB and Home Box Office (HBO) have entered into a multi-year output deal which will see Sky become the home of HBO programmes in the UK and Ireland. Under the agreement, all new HBO-commissioned programmes and series will be broadcast exclusively, and in high definition, on Sky channels.
