BROADCASTER BSkyB has seen revenues climb by 11 per cent in the first half of its year as it continues the subscriber battle with rival Virgin Media.
The company, which Rupert Murdoch's News Corp owns a 39 per cent stake in, said group revenues increased to £2.5 billion.
The growth was helped by the addition of 385,000 new customers in the six months to the end of December, including 260,000 ne
w Sky Broadband customers.
It was also boosted by the record 28 per cent increase in Sky+ subscribers in the second quarter. The service, which allows users to watch programmes at their own chosen time, now has 1.6 million customers after adding 167,000 in the last three months of the year.
But overall it posted a £112 million loss, mainly attributable to a £343m write-down on its controversial 17.9 per cent stake in ITV, which it was told by the Government to reduce to 7.5 per cent earlier this month.
The amount of users who dropped their subscription reduced to ten per cent, which represents the lowest level in three years, while the average revenue per user (ARPU) also reached a record level at £421.
Jeremy Darroch, chief executive of BSkyB, said: "We have made good progress during the quarter. Our focus on value and quality has delivered a strong level of new customer additions, a 35 per cent year-on-year increase in product sales, record ARP, and lower churn. Our business continues to strengthen.
"We enter calendar year 2008 in good shape."
The full article contains 270 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
