Sky Success Down To High Definition TV Service
Satellite TV, subscription and internet tv provider British Sky have seen subscriber figures grow by 62,000 in the first three months of 2010, the increase was driven by customers moving to the Sky+ HD high definition tv service recently launched.
Sky users love HD
Many of the new HD customers that Sky has signed up – and there were about 100,000 more than the City had expected – are existing Sky users. In the first quarter, the broadcaster added only 62,000 new customers, taking its total subscriber base to 9.77m. But because subscribers are taking more services , the revenue per user was also at an all time high.
Sky+ HD added 428,000 customers in what is the third quarter of the company’s financial year, compared to 243,000 a year earlier. The company saw a slowdown in the number of additional customers for its multi-room, broadband, telephony and line rental services, however.
“We have seen a huge response to our decision to cut the upfront cost of high definition, with net additions of 428,000 – up 76% on the prior year. The number of customers taking all three of TV, broadband and telephony is up 39% year on year and, as customers reward us with more of their business, ARPU has surpassed 500 for the first time, said chief executive Jeremy Darroch.
Sky are however facing a rocky time as more competition chip away at its core services. Virgin Media have a new HD box that shows HD content for the cost of the set-top box. Viewers can also pick up ITV1 in HD and BBC HD for free, and the world cup football tournament games will be shown on Freeview HD.
Sky, meanwhile, will start broadcasting Sky News HD on election night. The station will be its 40th HD channel and the broadcaster expects to have 50 up and running by the end of the year. It is also introducing more programming based around what it expects to be the next must-have gadget, 3D television. Rivals Virgin Media, BT and Top Up TV are also offering Sky Sports channels after Sky was forced to reduce wholesale price for the Sky Sports channels,
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[...] customers more HD channels which are all the rage right now, and is said to be the reason for Sky’s continued growth. The deal means Sky saves around £30m each year that it pays Virgin for transmission [...]