Sky squeezes even more money from customers, gets fewer new ones

BSkyB attracted fewer new subscribers to its TV, broadband and phone products in its last quarter even though the company enjoyed a healthy increase in sales.

The broadcaster, which is 39 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and lost its chairman James Murdoch in April, said its total subscriber base rose by 48,000 during the quarter ended 30 September.

But growth, which is always welcomed by the City, has continued to slow. In the same quarter a year earlier, 77,000 peeps signed up to the firm's services, and in 2010, 96,000 customers joined BSkyB.

However, the company had plenty to be pleased about this morning when it reported that revenue had climbed 4 per cent to £1.7bn during the quarter, while pre-tax profit hit £291m - up from £274m for the same period in 2011.

BSkyB smashed through the 4 million broadband userbase in its previous quarter, and it continued to steadily grow the number of customers choosing the company's product over telco rivals such as Virgin Media and TalkTalk. It said that as of 30 September 2012, 4.1 million people had subscribed to its broadband service.

The company's average revenue per user (ARPU) once again climbed from £535 in 2011's first quarter to £550. Its total customer base now stands at 10.7 million. ®