Liberty Global adds 920,000 digital cable subscribers in 2012

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013
Liberty Global logo

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 three months (“Q4”) ended December 31, 2012.

Subscriber Statistics

In terms of our TV business, we lost 287,000 video subscribers (including just 28,000 in Q4) in 2012, which reflected a 7% improvement compared to our video losses in 2011 and represents our lowest annual video attrition in five years in absolute terms despite a significantly larger footprint. We finished 2012 with a digital video base of 9.1 million RGUs, as we added 920,000 digital cable RGUs (including 217,000 in Q4) during the year. As a result, our digital penetration increased to 52% compared to 46% at year-end 2011. We expect that our opportunity to continue driving digital upgrades will be enhanced by our recently launched Horizon TV product and with nearly 8.5 million analog video subscribers, we remain confident in the video growth opportunity.

The take-up of Horizon TV in the Dutch market remained robust during the fourth quarter, and the early results so far in Switzerland have been very positive. We look forward to launching Horizon TV in Germany and Ireland later this year.

Consolidated Operating Data – December 31, 2012 – Video

                                                                                      Total
                                       Analog      Digital                            Video
                                        Cable        Cable        DTH     MMDS        Homes
                                    ---------  -----------  ---------  -------  -----------
UPC/Unity Division:
 Germany                            4,503,600    2,185,900          -        -    6,689,500
 The Netherlands*                     651,600    1,078,000          -        -    1,729,600
 Switzerland*                         842,500      606,000          -        -    1,448,500
 Austria                              199,400      335,900          -        -      535,300
 Ireland                               63,000      337,800          -   45,600      446,400
  Total Western Europe              6,260,100    4,543,600          -   45,600   10,849,300

 Poland                               546,000      756,300          -        -    1,302,300
 Hungary                              306,900      327,100    242,900        -      876,900
 Romania                              428,700      423,600    319,700        -    1,172,000
 Czech Republic                        76,100      406,000    102,200        -      584,300
 Slovakia                              84,100      123,100     54,300    1,100      262,600

  Total CEE                         1,441,800    2,036,100    719,100    1,100    4,198,100
   Total UPC/Unity                  7,701,900    6,579,700    719,100   46,700   15,047,400

Telenet (Belgium)                     549,200    1,573,500          -        -    2,122,700
VTR (Chile)                           163,200      769,300          -        -      932,500
Puerto Rico                                 -      205,900          -        -      205,900
                                    ---------  -----------  ---------  -------  -----------
Grand Total                         8,414,300    9,128,400    719,100   46,700   18,308,500

Net Adds (Reductions) vs. September 30, 2012:

 Organic                            (286,000)      217,100     43,400  (2,300)     (27,800)
 Adjustments/Acquisitions            (11,000)      124,300          -      400      113,700
  Total                             (297,000)      341,400     43,400  (1,900)       85,900

* Pursuant to service agreements, Switzerland and, to a much lesser extent, the Netherlands offer digital cable, broadband internet and telephony services over networks owned by third-party cable operators (“partner networks”). A partner network RGU is only recognized if there is a direct billing relationship with the customer. Homes Serviceable for partner networks represent the estimated number of homes that are technologically capable of receiving the applicable service within the geographic regions covered by the applicable service agreements. Internet and Telephony Homes Serviceable with respect to partner networks have been estimated by our Switzerland operations. These estimates may change in future periods as more accurate information becomes available. At December 31, 2012, Switzerland’s partner networks account for 125,500 Customer Relationships, 236,500 RGUs, 91,900 Digital Cable Subscribers, 466,600 Internet and Telephony Homes Serviceable, 83,500 Internet Subscribers, and 61,100 Telephony Subscribers. In addition, partner networks account for 454,100 of Switzerland’s digital cable homes serviceable that are not included in Homes Passed or Two-way Homes Passed in our December 31, 2012 subscriber table.