BSkyB profits rise, 550 new jobs announced

BSkyB has announced pre-tax profits of £994 million for the nine months to the end of March.

Sky revealed that it has added 152,000 broadband customers over the past three months with the number of internet connected Sky boxes, to access on demand features, was also rising week on week.

On demand downloads hit a record for Sky, with an average of 4.5 million streams along with 3.5 million movie rental transactions. The total paid-for subscription product base exceeded 30 million for the first time.

Chief executive Jeremy Darroch said that Sky will be creating 550 new jobs to keep up with the demand by consumers for their products. He notes that despite the tough consumer environment Sky managed to add 715,000 more subscription products in three months.

“We have had a good third quarter and our multi-product strategy is delivering strong results. Increased take-up across our product set led to another improvement in financial performance with growth in revenues and profits accelerating in the third quarter. Group revenues are up 6%, operating profit up 9% and earnings per share up 16% for the first nine months.” – Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch