Liberty Global adds 1 million digital cable customers in 2011
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
ENGLEWOOD, Colorado — Liberty Global, Inc. (“Liberty Global,” “LGI,” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK), today announces financial and operating results for the year and the three months (“Q4”) ended December 31, 2011.
Subscriber Statistics
At December 31, 2011, we provided a total of 32.8 million subscription services (RGUs), consisting of 18.4 million video, 8.2 million broadband internet and 6.2 million telephony RGUs, to our 19.5 million unique customers. In 2011, we grew our RGU base by 21% or 5.8 million RGUs, including 4.6 million RGUs from acquisitions, primarily KBW in Germany and Aster in Poland, and 1.2 million RGUs from organic growth. Including acquisitions, our bundled customer base increased 27% to 8.1 million over the last twelve months, resulting in 41% of our customers subscribing to multiple services. As a result of our marketing emphasis, 84% of the increase in bundled customers was attributable to growth in our triple-play subscriptions.
In terms of our video business, we lost 307,000 customers in 2011, an 18% improvement compared to our video losses in the prior year. During the year, we continued to focus on upselling our analog video customers to digital, as we added 282,000 and 1.0 million digital cable subscribers for the three months and year ended December 31, 2011, respectively. We finished 2011 with a digital cable base of 8.2 million RGUs and digital penetration11 of 46%, up modestly from 44% at year-end 2010, due largely to the inclusion of the lower digital penetration of KBW, which was only 11% at the date of acquisition. Our continued emphasis on HD and DVR services12 has been an important factor in driving both digital penetration and video ARPU, and in 2011, we added an aggregate 1.1 million HD and/or DVR subscribers, expanding the penetration of our digital cable base to approximately 50%.
Consolidated Operating Data – December 31, 2011:
Total
Analog Digital Video
Cable Cable DTH MMDS Homes
--------- ----------- --------- ------- -----------
UPC Broadband Division:
Germany 4,768,600 1,983,800 -- -- 6,752,400
The Netherlands 808,000 1,010,200 -- -- 1,818,200
Switzerland 917,400 570,000 -- -- 1,487,400
Austria 208,800 302,100 -- -- 510,900
Ireland 82,400 331,400 -- 55,000 468,800
Total Western Europe 6,785,200 4,197,500 -- 55,000 11,037,700
Hungary 323,100 290,300 219,300 -- 832,700
Romania 508,200 351,700 282,800 -- 1,142,700
Poland 727,300 626,100 -- -- 1,353,400
Czech Republic 81,800 421,600 81,400 -- 584,800
Slovakia 102,400 109,400 46,700 800 259,300
Total Central & Eastern Europe 1,742,800 1,799,100 630,200 800 4,172,900
Total UPC Broadband Division 8,528,000 5,996,600 630,200 55,800 15,210,600
Telenet (Belgium) 789,000 1,409,500 -- -- 2,198,500
The Americas:
VTR (Chile) 214,600 702,700 -- -- 917,300
Puerto Rico -- 79,100 -- -- 79,100
Total The Americas 214,600 781,800 -- -- 996,400
--------- ----------- --------- ------- -----------
Total (continuing operations) 9,531,600 8,187,900 630,200 55,800 18,405,500
Austar, has been reclassified to discontinued operations
Subscriber Variance – Video – December 31, 2011 vs. September 30, 2011:
Total
Analog Digital Video
Cable Cable DTH MMDS Homes
--------- ----------- --------- ------- -----------
UPC Broadband Division:
Germany 1,995,800 295,100 -- -- 2,290,900
The Netherlands (55,500) 36,600 -- -- (18,900)
Switzerland (64,700) 35,500 -- -- (29,200)
Austria (14,900) 13,800 -- -- (1,100)
Ireland (5,600) 3,300 -- (2,200) (4,500)
Total Western Europe 1,855,100 384,300 -- (2,200) 2,237,200
Hungary (8,600) 2,800 12,100 -- 6,300
Romania (29,900) 23,100 27,300 -- 20,500
Poland (47,500) 41,500 -- -- (6,000)
Czech Republic (5,300) 6,900 1,800 -- 3,400
Slovakia (8,900) 6,900 2,800 (100) 700
Total Central & Eastern Europe (100,200) 81,200 44,000 (100) 24,900
Total UPC Broadband Division 1,754,900 465,500 44,000 (2,300) 2,262,100
Telenet (Belgium) (64,300) 48,700 -- -- (15,600)
The Americas:
VTR (Chile) (15,800) 13,200 -- -- (2,600)
Puerto Rico -- (800) -- -- (800)
Total The Americas (15,800) 12,400 -- -- (3,400)
Total Continuing Operations 1,674,800 526,600 44,000 (2,300) 2,243,100
ORGANIC CHANGE SUMMARY:
UPC Broadband Division
(excluding Germany) (240,900) 170,400 44,000 (2,300) (28,800)
Germany (81,700) 50,100 -- -- (31,600)
Total UPC Broadband Division (322,600) 220,500 44,000 (2,300) (60,400)
Telenet (Belgium) (64,300) 48,700 -- -- (15,600)
The Americas (15,800) 12,400 -- -- (3,400)
Total Organic Change (402,700) 281,600 44,000 (2,300) (79,400)
ADJUSTMENTS:
Q4 2011 Acquisitions
KBW (Germany) 2,077,500 245,000 -- -- 2,322,500
--------- ----------- --------- ------- -----------
Net Adds (Reductions)
from Continuing Operations 1,674,800 526,600 44,000 (2,300) 2,243,100
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