Sky Italia reported a modest subscriber increase in Q4, but was able to post increased profits.
Having made it through the five million subscriber during the third quarter of 2011, just 23,000 net additions were recorded in the final quarter of the calendar year.
However, the combination of increased advertising and subscription revenues meant that News Corp’s Italia DTH operation was able to record a $6 million operating income, much improved on the $12 million operating loss of 12 months previous.
In a conference call CFO Dave DeVoe characterised Sky Italia’s performance as “very good results given the significant slowdown of the Italian economy”.
COO Chase Carey added: “We successfully tackled the competitive challenge from our major industry competitor as well as a challenging regulatory environment to regenerate growth and excitement in our business.” He cited the contribution of new sports content, HD and PVRs.
Monthly ARPU was €41, down €1 year-on-year but up €1 versus Q1 FY12 following the price increase introduced in December. Annualised churn remains stable at about 12%.
