British Sky Broadcasting Group, which rejected News Corp's bid for full ownership in June, said fiscal first-quarter operating profit rose 25 per cent on demand for broadband and high-definition TV services.
"Our focus this quarter on home communications has been rewarded with our highest ever take-up of broadband, telephony and line rental, alongside further good growth in high-definition," chief executive Jeremy Darroch said in a statement.
BSkyB is nearing a target of 10 million subscribers by the end of this year, prompting Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to make a £7.8 billion bid for the rest of the company as it seeks access to the broadcaster's increasing cash flows. BSkyB spurned the 700 pence a share bid and said it wanted at least 800 pence.
BSkyB added 96,000 net new subscribers in the period, taking it to a total of 9.96 million. The UK's biggest pay- television operator has sought to attract customers to its high- definition services after cutting installation prices for set-top boxes.
The broadcaster may not set a further customer goal after 2010 as the pay-TV market matures, analysts have said. The company, which said in July that one in five customers takes television, broadband and telephone services, may shift its focus to selling more products to its existing customers.
News Corp, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, has delayed notifying the European Commission of its intention to fully acquire BSkyB to avoid a UK government challenge, lawyers have said.
News Corp is trying to ward off a potential challenge from British business secretary Vince Cable over concerns the New York- based company may harm the public interest by expanding its control of UK media outlets, said Gustaf Duhs, an antitrust lawyer at Stevens and Bolton.
Mr Cable will decide on the bid based on the "rule of law rather than the commercial noise and lobby of competitors," chief financial officer Andrew Griffith said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
BSkyB's independent directors, led by Nicholas Ferguson, chairman of SVG Capital, said they may accept an offer of more than 800 pence a share. There is a "significant gap" between News Corp's proposal and the value of the company, Mr Ferguson said in June.
Bloomberg