Q1 was a bittersweet quarter for Liberty Global, its worsening financial position offset by record growth in digital cable additions.
Consolidated revenues in the first quarter amounted to $2,577.8 million (€1,926.9 million), as opposed to $2,611.0 in the corresponding period in 2008, while the net loss of $243.7 million was almost double the $126.9 million recorded in Q1 2008.
On the other hand, the company gained an additional 499,000 digital cable subscribers in the first quarter, or 84% more than in Q1 last year.
While the CEE region accounted for 159,500 of these new additions, Liberty Global’s DTH operations in the region fared less well: of the four, only Romania’s Focus Sat gained subscribers (+100 in Q1 2009), whole UPC Direct lost the most in the Czech Republic (-5,100).
Digital cable take-up in WE was strongest in Austria (+25,300) in the first quarter.
