Satellite TV company BSkyB topped estimates today with its first annual profit in five years.
The company, part of Mr Rupert Murdoch's global satellite empire, said its pre-tax profit excluding goodwill amortisation and other items for the year to June 30th was £260 million sterling, from a loss of £22 million a year earlier. Turnover grew 15 per cent to £3.19 billion.
The company's last profit came in 1998, when the launch of rival pay TV service ITV Digital triggered a brutal conflict that ended with ITV Digital's demise last year.
With BSkyB's own digital roll-out now complete, and its subscriber numbers boosted by former ITV Digital customers, analysts expect the company to be increasingly profitable in coming years.
Sky's direct-to-home subscribers - those who receive Sky directly via satellite - climbed by 133,000 to 6.8 million in the fourth quarter. The company said it is "highly confident" of reaching its goal of seven million subscribers by the end of calendar 2003.
The company boosted its average revenue per subscriber due to a price increase and the increased roll-out of premium services like Sky+, the company's personal video recorder offering.
Churn, or the number of subscribers who drop the Sky service each year, fell to 9.4 per cent, down more than a percentage point from the year-earlier period.
On August 8th, Sky won all four packages offered by the Premier League for three years from the start of the 2004/2005 season. It paid £1.024 billion for 138 games, below the £1.1 billion it paid under the current contract, for fewer games.