Sky Italia has reported a fourth quarter operating income of $71 million (€51.47m), the 85% increase almost double that of one year ago, and making a significant contribution towards the full year figure of £221m. The full year represents an improvement of $182m from the $39m one year ago.
The past 12 months has seen a subscriber increase of 368,000, bringing the total to 4.2 million at the end of June 2007. The increased revenues from the enlarged subscriber base were offset in part by higher programming costs and the introduction of new channels.
It should come as no surprise that football coverage is a key programming cost. Increased costs of Serie A and Serie B coverage were balanced out by the absence of the football World Cup that was broadcast by Sky Italia in 2006.
