View all Murdoch stays at Sky as operator reports £1 billion profit

James Murdoch will remain as chairman of UK pay TV operator BSkyB following a board vote held yesterday, despite criticism of his handling of the hacking scandal enveloping News International. The news comes as Sky posted full year revenues ending June 30 of £6.6 billion (€7.5 billion), a 16% year-on-year increase. Pre tax profits amounted to £1 billion.

The operator also announced a £750m share buy-back following the failure of News Corp to take over the company in the wake of the News of the World scandal.

Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said: “Sky has had an excellent year of delivery for both customers and shareholders. We have stayed focused on executing our plan and customers have responded by rewarding us with more of their business. Today’s announcement of a capital returns programme is a reflection of our strong performance and financial position, which flow directly from delivering for customers in the marketplace. With that in mind, we will stay focused on getting better on screen, innovating faster and delivering great value.”

Operationally, Sky ended June with 10.3 million customers, having added 40,000 TV customer and 31,000 separate communications customers during the fourth quarter. The number of Sky Plus DVR customers reached 3.8 million, up 30% year-on-year.

In broadband, Sky added 174,000 customers in the three months to the end of June, taking the total number of broadband additions for the year to 711,000. At the end of June, Sky had a total of 3.3 million broadband homes.