Sky Deutschland adds subs, narrows losses

Sky Deutschland attracted 73,000 new customers during the first three months of 2011, taking its total customer base to 2,726,000 at the end of March. That number is up from 2,471,000 a year earlier.

The pay TV operator doubled the number of premium HD subscribers to 664,000 at the end of March, with the total number of customers receiving Sky HD increasing to 1,131,000.

First quarter revenues grew 15% year-on-year to €269.6 million thanks to a combination of new subscribers and a 6% increase in ARPU to €30.50. However total costs increased to €337.5 million from €309.4 million, and Sky posted an EBITDA loss of €55 million, a 15% improvement on the first quarter of 2010. The operator reported a loss after taxes of €86.9 million, narrower than €97 million last year.