U.K. satellite operator BSkyB now has about 8.1 million subscribers, growth which analysts described as “a bit light.”
“BskyB’s nine month results came in in-line with our forecasts,” Conor O’Shea, a media equity analyst at Teather & Greenwood, said in a research note. “The key metric, operating profit, was 660 million British pounds ($1.2 billion), slightly below our 669 million pound ($1.23 billion) forecast, due to 9 million pounds ($16.6 billion) of operating losses from Easynet.
“On the negative side, subscriber additions were a bit light at 40,000 (compared with our 58,000 forecast), but guidance of 100,000 for Q3 and Q4 was maintained. ARPU also fell from 397 pounds ($730.8) to 392 pounds ($721.6), reflecting the impact of the impact of Sky’s promotional offers around Christmas, which are centered around half-price content for the first three months, the majority of which will had an effect on Q3’s ARPU.”
Nick Bell, a media equity analyst at Bear Stearns, said, ARPU was 3 pounds less than the estimate, while churn of 11.4 percent was ahead of the11.2 percent estimate. Bear Stearns had forecast 46,000 subscriber additions.
