Liberty Global Reports Third Quarter 2011 Results

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Liberty Global, Inc. (“Liberty Global,” “LGI,” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK), today announces financial and operating results for the third quarter (“Q3”) ended September 30, 2011.

Subscriber Statistics

At September 30, 2011, we provided a total of 29.3 million services, consisting of 16.9 million video, 7.2 million broadband internet and 5.2 million telephony RGUs, to our 17.9 million unique customers. During the third quarter, we increased our RGU base by 947,000 subscriptions, which resulted from the inclusion of 619,000 RGUs from acquisitions, including Aster in Poland, and our best third quarter ever in terms of organic net additions.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011, we generated organic RGU additions of 327,000 and 813,000, respectively, reflecting 96% and 51% increases over the respective 2010 periods. On a regional basis, 91% of our third-quarter additions were generated in Europe, as we more than doubled our subscriber additions compared to Q3 last year, with our operations in Western Europe7 and Central and Eastern European (“CEE”), adding more than 70,000 RGUs each in Q3 2011, as compared to Q3 2010. Of particular note, our German, Swiss and Dutch operations led our strong year-over-year improvement in Western Europe, while our Romanian, Hungarian and Polish operations helped CEE deliver its best quarter of 2011. Outside Europe, Q3 subscriber additions at our Chilean business (“VTR”) were nearly four times Q3 2010 results, as VTR reduced product churn and benefited from its “3.0” broadband speeds.

We attribute this momentum in subscriber growth to the success of our compelling triple-play offers, which provide the foundation for our fall selling season. We ended the third quarter with 39% of our customers subscribing to bundled services, with 24% of our customers taking a full triple-play package. Including acquisitions, our triple-play customer base has grown by 691,000 customers or 19% in just the last twelve months.

Our superior broadband products continue to provide us with a speed advantage that has allowed us to gain market share in key countries such as Germany and the Netherlands. For the three and nine months ended Q3 2011, we added 192,000 and 535,000 broadband RGUs, respectively, reflecting growth of 31% and 15% over prior-year periods. In our voice business, we added 193,000 and 504,000 telephony RGUs during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011, representing net add improvements of 76% and 30%, respectively, over the corresponding 2010 periods. For both broadband and voice, these RGU additions translate to record volume for both the three-month and nine-month periods.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011, our video losses of 58,000 and 226,000, represented improvements of 35% and 28%, respectively, as compared to the prior-year periods. These results reflect improved analog losses, as well as sustained growth of digital cable and direct-to-home (“DTH”) RGUs. Over the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011, we added 234,000 and 739,000 digital cable subscribers, driven by strong demand for our HD and DVR services. With only 49% digital penetration,* we continue to see a considerable digital growth opportunity with respect to the upgrade potential of our 7.9 million analog subscriber base.

* Digital penetration is calculated by dividing digital cable RGUs by the total of digital and analog cable RGUs.

Consolidated Operating Data – Video – September 30, 2011:

                                                                                      Total
                                       Analog      Digital                            Video
                                        Cable        Cable        DTH     MMDS        Homes
                                    ---------  -----------  ---------  -------  -----------
UPC Broadband Division:                            
 Germany                            2,772,800    1,688,700          --        --    4,461,500
 The Netherlands(13)                  863,500      973,600          --        --    1,837,100
 Switzerland(13)                      982,100      534,500          --        --    1,516,600
 Austria                              223,700      288,300          --        --      512,000
 Ireland                               88,000      328,100          --   57,200      473,300
  Total Western Europe              4,930,100    3,813,200          --   57,200    8,800,500
 Hungary                              331,700      287,500    207,200        --      826,400
 Romania                              538,100      328,600    255,500        --    1,122,200
 Poland                               774,800      584,600          --        --    1,359,400
 Czech Republic                        87,100      414,700     79,600        --      581,400
 Slovakia                             111,300      102,500     43,900      900      258,600
  Total Central
  & Eastern Europe                  1,843,000    1,717,900    586,200      900    4,148,000
   Total UPC Broadband Division     6,773,100    5,531,100    586,200   58,100   12,948,500
                             
Telenet (Belgium)                     853,300    1,360,800          --        --    2,214,100

The Americas:
 VTR (Chile)                          230,400      689,500          --        --      919,900
 Puerto Rico                                --       79,900          --        --       79,900
  Total The Americas                  230,400      769,400          --        --      999,800

Austar (Australia)                          --            --    765,600        --      765,600

Grand Total                         7,856,800    7,661,300  1,351,800   58,100   16,928,000

Subscriber Variance – Video – September 30, 2011 vs. June 30, 2011:

                                                                                      Total
                                       Analog      Digital                            Video
                                        Cable        Cable        DTH     MMDS        Homes
                                    ---------  -----------  ---------  -------  -----------
UPC Broadband Division:
 Germany                             (62,500)       55,400          --        --      (7,100)
 The Netherlands                     (47,600)       29,600          --        --     (18,000)
 Switzerland                         (20,700)       24,900          --        --        4,200
 Austria                             (11,500)        4,900          --        --      (6,600)
 Ireland                              (7,800)        3,000          --  (2,700)      (7,500)
  Total Western Europe              (150,100)      117,800          --  (2,700)     (35,000)
 Hungary                              (7,000)        6,700      6,800        --        6,500
 Romania                             (29,500)       13,900     13,500        --      (2,100)
 Poland                               201,300      146,800          --        --      348,100
 Czech Republic                       (4,500)      (5,100)        400        --      (9,200)
 Slovakia                             (5,400)        5,200      1,600  (1,300)          100
  Total Central & Eastern Europe      154,900      167,500     22,300  (1,300)      343,400
   Total UPC Broadband Division         4,800      285,300     22,300  (4,000)      308,400
                        
Telenet (Belgium)                    (61,600)       41,800          --        --     (19,800)
                          
The Americas:                            
 VTR (Chile)                         (16,000)       21,500          --        --        5,500
 Puerto Rico                                --        (700)          --        --        (700)
  Total The Americas                 (16,000)       20,800          --        --        4,800

Austar (Australia)                          --            --      1,300        --        1,300
                         
Grand Total                          (72,800)      347,900     23,600  (4,000)      294,700

Organic Growth Summary:

UPC Broadband Division
  (excluding Germany)               (171,600)      116,300     22,300  (4,000)     (37,000)  
Germany                              (62,500)       55,400          --        --      (7,100)
Total UPC Broadband Division        (234,100)      171,700     22,300  (4,000)     (44,100)
Telenet (Belgium)                    (61,600)       41,800          --        --     (19,800)
The Americas                         (16,000)       20,800          --        --        4,800
Austar (Australia)                          --            --      1,300        --        1,300

Total Organic Change                (311,700)      234,300     23,600  (4,000)     (57,800)

Adjustments:

Q3 2011 Poland acquisition - Aster    236,000      113,600          --        --      349,600
Q3 2011 Slovakia acquisition            2,900            --          --        --        2,900

Net Adjustments                       238,900      113,600          --        --      352,500

Footnotes for Operating Data and Subscriber Variance Tables
(1) Analog Cable Subscriber is a home, residential multiple dwelling unit or commercial unit that receives our analog cable service over our broadband network. In Europe, we have approximately 459,100 “lifeline” customers that are counted on a per connection basis, representing the least expensive regulated tier of basic cable service, with only a few channels.
(2) Digital Cable Subscriber is a home, residential multiple dwelling unit or commercial unit that receives our digital cable service over our broadband network or through a partner network. We count a subscriber with one or more digital converter boxes that receives our digital cable service in one premises as just one subscriber. A Digital Cable Subscriber is not counted as an Analog Cable Subscriber. As we migrate customers from analog to digital cable services, we report a decrease in our Analog Cable Subscribers equal to the increase in our Digital Cable Subscribers. Individuals who receive digital cable service through a purchased digital set-top box or through a “digicard”, but do not pay a monthly digital service fee are counted as Digital Cable Subscribers to the extent that such individuals are subscribing to our analog cable service. At September 30, 2011, we included 52,600 of these subscribers in the Digital Cable Subscribers reported for Cablecom. In the case of Cablecom, we estimate the number of such subscribers using publicly available data. A “digicard” is a small device that allows customers with a common interface plus (“CI+”) enabled television set who subscribe to, or otherwise have purchased access to, our digital cable services, to view such services without a digital set-top box. Subscribers to digital cable services provided by Cablecom over partner networks receive analog cable services from the partner networks as opposed to Cablecom.
(3) DTH Subscriber is a home, residential multiple dwelling unit or commercial unit that receives our video programming broadcast directly via a geosynchronous satellite. Austar’s DTH RGUs include 149,500 commercial RGUs that are calculated on an EBU basis.
(4) MMDS Subscriber is a home, residential multiple dwelling unit or commercial unit that receives our video programming via MMDS.