Sky Italia has reached a total subscriber base of 4.17 million, an increase of 140,000 subscribers on the quarter, and 456,000 on the year. The News Corp-owned DTH platform recorded a third quarter operating income of $91 million, an increase of $69 million compared to a year ago.
However, the increase in revenues has been partially offset by increased programming costs, both in terms of contracts that require higher payments as subscriber levels increase, as well as the broadcast of additional Serie A and Serie B football.