If the recovery of Sky Deutschland could be judged on subscriber numbers alone, then the pay-TV operator is beginning to sit up in bed. Buoyed by a series of marketing campaigns an additional 73,000 subscribers were added in the first quarter to reach 2.726 million subscribers.
At the same time over 1.1 million households now receive the satcaster’s HD offer including 664,000 premium HD customers. Quarterly annualised churn is also down, falling to 9.9% from the eye-popping 19.8% in Q1 2010.
However, this improvement comes against revenues that have increased to €269.6 million from €234.7 million and an EBITDA loss that has only slightly improved to €55.0 million from €64.5 million, showing that the profitability seen elsewhere within the Sky family is a long way off.
Brian Sullivan, CEO of Sky Deutschland, said the figures represented a steady and substantial improvement. “By focusing on our core priorities – high quality content, exciting innovations and great service – we are delivering for our customers. We are pleased with these results, but recognise that it is still early days and that there is more to do”.
Sky Deutschland has been focussing on technological innovation, not least its multiscreen offer Sky Go, which is available across the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, or over the internet on a PC or laptop. It can also be used to access movies on demand. Broadcast tights to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League have been extended through to 2015 and Germany’s full high definition line-up will be available from June 1 following an agreement with HD+.
