Sky Italia subscribers down 10,000 in 1Q 2014

Wednesday, May 7th, 2014
Twenty-First Century Fox logo

NEW YORK, NY — Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (“21st Century Fox” or the “Company” — NASDAQ: FOXA, FOX) today reported $8.22 billion of total revenue for the three months ending March 31, 2014, an $866 million or 12% increase over the $7.35 billion of revenue reported in the prior year quarter.

Direct Broadcast Satellite Television

DBS generated quarterly segment OIBDA of $58 million, compared to $91 million reported in the same period a year ago. The decrease in OIBDA reflects higher programming costs related to SKY Italia’s broadcast of the Sochi Olympics and Sky Deutschland’s exclusive broadcast of Bundesliga soccer, which commenced in the current fiscal year. The impact from the increased programming costs more than offset a $210 million or 16% increase in segment revenues driven by continued subscriber growth at Sky Deutschland and a 4% beneficial impact from the strengthened Euro. At SKY Italia, quarterly local currency revenue was consistent with the corresponding period of the prior year.

Sky Deutschland grew net direct subscribers by approximately 64,000 during the quarter, bringing total direct subscribers to 3.73 million while SKY Italia’s subscriber base was essentially unchanged at 4.75 million.

SKY Italia subscribers

                                                 2014
           ------------------------------------------
                  4Q         3Q         2Q         1Q
           ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Total                                       4,750,000
Net Adds                                     (10,000)

                                                 2013
           ------------------------------------------
                  4Q         3Q         2Q         1Q
           ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Total      4,760,000  4,760,000  4,760,000  4,780,000
Net Adds           0          0   (27,000)   (51,000)