The number of Sky subscribers fell by 99,000 to 23.9 million in the 3rd quarter.
In Comcast’s latest financials, Sky still added 482,000 subscribers over the last 12 months with total customer relationships climbing 2.1% year-on-year.
Revenues for the broadcaster that serves the UK & Ireland, Germany & Austria, and Italy decreased by 4.2% to $4.6 billion, in part due to a change in gambling advertisements in the UK and Italy, as well as overall market weakness.
In an analyst call, Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch explained the 4th quarter of the year was still the biggest quarter for video in Europe.
“The idea of upgrading your TV for Christmas to pay-TV to Sky remains a strong idea for us. It’s not as keen as it was in the past but it remains an important part of the business.”
Darroch said that Sky will be driving its Sky Q set-top box that already represents 40% of the Sky business and he believes it can be “a lot higher”.