Sky Deutschland’s subscription figures slide

Jörn Krieger

German pay-TV operator Sky was unable to stop its subscription figures from sliding further back in the second quarter of 2009. At June 30 the company had 2.364 million customers – 7,000 less than at the end of the first quarter (2.371 million).

With the costly closing of security gaps in the encryption system last year, Sky had hoped to stop the backwards trend. The economic development of the second quarter was also disappointing with revenues sinking from €252.1 million on 30 June 2008 to €230.6 million.

The net loss rose from €37.8 million to €365.8 million, the main reason being the writing off of the brand Premiere which had a negative effect of €253.9 million on the financial results. Additionally, increased costs for sports rights, mostly the soccer Bundesliga and the DFB Cup which Sky screened for the first time in August, played a role in the disappointing figures.

With the relaunch as Sky on July 4 comprising a new package and price structure the broadcaster hopes to see its subscription figures rise again with a net profit expected from 2011.

“We are very pleased with progress since the successful launch of Sky on July 4, with awareness of the Sky brand very quickly exceeding 50%,” said CEO Mark Williams in Munich. “In these first few weeks, we have seen a very positive reaction from both our existing customers upgrading to the new expanded range of Sky services, including our new comprehensive HD offer, as well as a strong increase in the rate of subscriber additions.”