Liberty Global’s Horizon TV had over 270,000 subscribers in the Netherlands and Switzerland as of the end of last month.
The company is now preparing to introduce the service in both Ireland and Germany in the coming weeks, though in its latest set of results gives no details of further rollouts. However, it does say that in the UK, Virgin Media ended the second quarter with 1.7 million TiVo subscribers.
In its results, Liberty notes that its year-on-year increase of 41% of 13.7 million RGUs was largely driven by the acquisition of Virgin Media and organic growth. However, within specific markets it only added 129,000 RGUs in Germany in Q2, compared to 189,000 a year earlier, due to lower promotional activity and absence of its ‘Go for Growth’ strategy. In the highly competitive Netherlands it lost 7,000 RGUs in Q2, compared to a gain of 14,000 in the same period in 2012.
In CEE, Liberty’s DTH operations had a disappointing second quarter, losing 10,200 subscribers in Romania and 1,100 in the Czech Republic q-o-q.
Growth was modest in Hungary (+3,300) and Slovakia (1,800).
Liberty’s consolidated revenues rose by $637 million (€480.6 million) to $3.16 billion in the second quarter and $868 million to $5.93 billion respectively. These reflected growth of 25% and 17% respectively on a year earlier.
In terms of operating income, Liberty has posted figures of $445 million and $971 million for Q2 and H1 this year. These were 7% lower and flat compared to the same periods last year.
Commenting on the results, Liberty Global’s president and CEO Mike Fries said, “The highlight of our second quarter was the successful acquisition of Virgin Media. This transaction marks an important milestone in our efforts to consolidate what remains a very fragmented European cable market. Virgin Media significantly enhances both the scale of our business and our levered equity growth strategy.”
Broadband TV News’ Robert Briel has been using the Horizon set-top since last September – read his experiences in the Briel On collumn.
