Revenues at Sky fell back in the first quarter after a fall in subscriber numbers brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The DTH broadcaster lost 65,000 ‘customer relationships’, reducing total subscriber numbers by 65,000 to 23.9 milion.
Parent Comcast put the reduction down to the postponement of sports events and the suspension of certain sales channels – Sky will have been forced to shutter the pods that are present in UK shopping centres.
Adjusted EBITDA for Sky decreased 16.9% to $551 million in the first quarter of 2020.
Covid-19 also had an effect on content revenue that decreased 10.5% to $325 million, primarily reflecting the deferral of wholesale revenue from sports programming.
A fall in advertising revenues – already impacted by changes in advertising legislation around gambling in the UK and Italy – were exacerbated by the virus.
