UK pay-TV operator BSkyB [London: BSY.L] is within 300,000 subscribers of the magic 7 million subscriber figure. In its first quarter results, the operator said it added 150,000 net new subscribers in the first quarter, reaching a total of 6,712,000 subscribers.

While the operator is still on track to reach its target of seven million subscribers by the end of the year, the pace of subscriber growth has slowed significantly.

During the last half of 2002, BSkyB had been adding over 200,000 net new subscribers per quarter. Also, the number is down compared to the first quarter of 2002, when BSkyB added 171,000 net new subscribers.

But, while subscriber growth is slowing, there still were a number of encouraging signs in the results. BSkyB’s profits before tax, goodwill and exceptional items, for the nine months ended March 31, 2002, reached GBP165 million ($267.6 million). Annualized average revenue per unit (ARPU) increased 7 per cent compared to the same quarter last year, reaching GBP364 ($590.4). The company is still off its ARPU target of GBP400 ($649).

–Mark Holmes

(Andrew Griffith, BSkyB, e-mail: [email protected])