Premiere loses customers in first quarter

German pay-TV operator Premiere lost a further 28,000 direct customers in the first quarter, leaving it with 2.371 million subscribers. The biggest losses were among customer taking the Flex offer, which Premiere is phasing out.

Revenues for the quarter amounted to €232.7m, flat year-on-year on a comparable basis. EBITDA was negative €29.8m, down from positive €2.9m for the first quarter of 2008. Premiere reported a net loss of €80m for the quarter, compared with a net loss of €28.1m in 2008. On the positive side, ARPU increased by almost €1 quarter-on-quarter to €24.85.

Premiere confirmed its existing full-year outlook. The company expects subscriber growth to resume in the second half of the year, with EBITDA and cash-flow expected to be positive from 2011.