Growth returns to Digital+

Spanish DTH platform Digital+ has dragged itself out of mire caused by the ongoing football rights dispute, adding 19,000 new subscribers in the last quarter of 2007, to reach a total of 2,065,000 households. However, the net additions for the year remained low at 21,000. The average revenue per customer was €45.5 and the churn rate stood at 11.9%.

The financial sheets are much improved, Digital+ increased its EBIT by 60%, contributing to a net profit on parent company Sogecable’s pay-TV activities of €176 million. This compares with €287.5m in 2007.

Sogecable will now be looking to the recently launched i+ personal video recorder, a belated first in the Spanish market, and the Trio+ triple play offer in association with Telefónica. An agreement is also in place with Orange, combining mobile telephony with ADSL, under the Digital+ Móvil brand.

Canal+ HD launched on January 31, 2008.

Sogecable’s free-to-air channel Cuatro entered proit in its second year of operation with an EBITDA of €4 million. The €102.8 million increase must be tempered with the thought of what might happen to the year’s 7.7% average audience once analogue switch off has been completed.