The number of people who have signed up to Sky's digital subscriber service has hit a new high of 272,000, which means the service is now in 21 per cent of Irish homes.
The popularity of its digital offering in the Republic and Britain contributed significantly to a 126 per cent rise (before goodwill and exceptionals) in pre-tax profits at BSkyB, the company controlled by media magnate Mr Rupert Murdoch.
BSkyB has found it far easier to promote its digital service since the demise of ITV Digital in Britain last year. The collapse of that company has been described as crucial to the recent performance of the company, which yesterday reported pre-tax profits for the six months ended December of $256 million.
As of December 30th last, the total number of digital subscribers in Ireland reached 272,000, up from 253, 000 at the end of September.
There are also approximately 600,000 cable and MMDS customers throughout the State who receive Sky channels. There has been some fall-off in this figure, but this is believed to be because of the number switching to digital.
According to a Sky spokeswoman, last year's growth rate was approximately 1,000 subscribers per week. Commenting on BSkyB's results, Mr Mark Deering, director of Sky Ireland, said the company was now providing a wide range of programming to more than a quarter of million homes via minidish.
While the growth of digital has been strong in the Republic, the take up in Britain has been on a very large scale, with 6.5 million homes getting in the service.
"We are well on track to hit all of our targets and we look forward to the rest of the year with confidence," chief executive Mr Tony Ball said in a statement. The market valued the firm at about $19 billion.
BSkyB aims to have seven million digital TV subscribers by the end of this year as it tightens its grip on a British pay-TV market where rivals lag far behind or have gone out of business.
Broadcasters Granada and Carlton pulled the plug on their ITV Digital joint venture last year when it ran out of money.
Cable rivals Telewest Communications and NTL are both emerging from drawn-out financial restructuring.
"This is a quality team, in a quality company, in the fortunate position that some of the competition has fallen by the wayside," said one fund manager who owns more than 1 per cent of BSkyB's stock.
BSkyB said average annualised revenue per user (ARPU) rose 3 per cent in the three months to end-December from the year-ago period to £351 sterling, edging nearer the firm's target of £400 sterling in 2005.
BSkyB's grip on top sports rights, such as English premier league soccer, helps it to maximise revenue per user.
