Sky Plus HD passes one million mark

UK pay-TV operator BSkyB has attracted over one million subscribers to its Sky Plus HD DVR service after signing up 243,000 new customers, a quarter of which were new to Sky, during the quarter ending March 31.

The standard definition version of the DVR service now has over five million customers after Sky attracted 406,000 new subscribers during the quarter, meaning that almost one in five UK households use Sky Plus.

Overall, the operator reported net customer growth of 80,000 to reach 9.318 million households. Fifteen per cent, or 1.4 million, of those customers now subscribe to a triple-play package of TV, broadband and telephony, a rise of 600,000 in 12 months. Sky’s customer churn rate remained stable at 10.6% while ARPU rose to £452 (€504) from £424 a year earlier.

During the quarter, Sky attracted 130,000 new broadband customers, 100,000 less than the corresponding quarter in 2008, giving it a total of 2.1 million.

Reporting results for the nine months to the end of March, Sky revealed adjusted revenue of £3.96bn, up nine per cent year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA was up 14% to £800m.