Sky Deutschland shows improvement in third quarter

Pay TV operator Sky Deutschland reported net growth of 45,000 subscribers for the third quarter, taking its total to 2.521 million at the end of September. The number of additions was less than the third quarter 2009 figure of 67,000, but that number was boosted by the withdrawal of Unitymedia’s ArenaSat platform.

Quarterly annualized churn was 18.5%, down from the 22.5% recorded for the same period last year. ARPU grew by €3.68 year-on-year to €29.45. The operator’s HD offer attracted 90,000 new subscribers, taking penetration to 18.2%.

Sky said that subscription revenues were up 19.1% year-on-year, and the company reported EBITDA of negative €54.9 million for the quarter, compared with negative €87.9 million for the same period last year. this was ahead of most analysts expectations, leading to a rise in the company’s share price. Revenue for the period was €243 million, up 17%.
Sky confirmed earlier expectations of a full-year 2010 EBITDA loss of between €260-€280 million.