BSkyB passes 5 million HD subscriber mark in 4Q 2013

MIDDLESEX, United Kingdom — British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (LSE:BSY) has released unaudited results for the six months ended 31 December 2013.

“Strong customer demand drove an increase of 873,000 paid-for subscription products in the three months ended 31 December 2013, 42% higher than the same period last year. TV products saw the highest quarterly growth for three years, boosted by a strong performance from HD. In all, we added 112,000 new HD customers, taking our total HD base past the five million milestone. Sky Go Extra, our paid-for mobile TV service, also grew well with 258,000 net new additions in the quarter. This took the total base to 643,000, less than one year after launch.

The growth of NOW TV was supported by a positive customer response to our new low-cost NOW TV box, which we started to market in the autumn.

We grew the number of Sky+HD connected homes by a record one million in the three months ended 31 December 2013. This means that 4.4 million of our TV customers now have a connected Sky+HD box, up more than 100% year on year.”

Customer Metrics (’000s)

                            As at      As at  Annual  Quarterly Growth
                        31-Dec-13  31-Dec-12  Growth         31-Dec-13
                        ---------  ---------  ------  ----------------
Total paid-for
 products (‘000s)          33,307     29,513  +3,794              +873
 TV                        10,536     10,358    +178               +77
 HD                         5,005      4,561    +444              +112
 Multiroom                  2,528      2,467     +61               +25
 Sky Go Extra                 643          -    +643              +258

New connected TV
 services (‘000s)
 Internet-connected
  Sky+HD boxes              4,352      1,715  +2,637            +1,001
 Sky Go unique users        3,314      3,066    +248               +23