BSkyB seeks 100s of Geordies to deal with broadband customer growth

BSkyB is looking to fill 550 job vacancies to meet what it described as "strong demand" for its TV and broadband services.

The move comes after the British broadcaster confirmed that it had completed its takeover of O2 and BE's home broadband networks on Wednesday.

BSkyB, which is 39 per cent-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, told the City this morning that it needed to hire more people in response to its "growing customer base over the next 12 months".

It said that it wanted to fill 200 Sky retail sales positions and a further 350 jobs in the company's Newcastle-based customer service centre following its multi-million pound takeover of Telefonica-owned O2 and BE's home broadband networks and fixed-line telephony biz.

Meanwhile, BSkyB reported that revenue had climbed six per cent to nearly £5.4bn in the nine months ended 31 March. Pre-tax profit grew from £689m for the same period a year ago to £736m.

The company admitted that more people had quit BSkyB than it had hoped with churn hitting 10.8 per cent. It blamed "continuing pressure on household budgets."

However, more pleasingly, BSkyB reported that its annual average revenue per user had reached £576 - up a stonking £30 on its ARPU figures in 2011/2012. The firm said subscribers had signed up to an extra 715,000 new products in its third quarter to the end of March. It now has 4.4 million retail broadband customers on its books. ®