Liberty Global Reports Third Quarter 2011 Results
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011ENGLEWOOD, 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.
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