BSkyB said that as of September 30 it has 7,015,000 direct-to-home subscribers in the UK and Ireland.
The company is now looking forward to its next target, reaching the 8m subscriber mark by the end of 2005. It is a target that Ball, who is to leave before May next year, said he was highly confident of reaching.
"Reaching the milestone three months early is a fantastic achievement for the company and I congratulate the excellent team that has made it possible," he said.
The success in meeting the target is unlikely to divert attention for long about who will succeed Ball. BSkyB majority shareholder Rupert Murdoch has been testing the water about the possibility of his second-oldest son, James, taking up the post. However, several major shareholders have objected strenuously to the role being filled without due process being observed.
Some commentators have said that it was unlikely that Murdoch would let his son run what is still a prized asset if he was not capable of doing the job, but this has not stopped groups, such as the National Association of Pension Funds, raising concerns about nepotism. It is reported that the headhunters Spencer Stuart have been appointed to look for a new chief executive.
Spencer Stuart is reported to have been given a deadline of just two weeks to draw up a shortlist of candidates.
Whoever takes on the role will have a difficult task in living up to Ball's success. BSkyB had crossed the 1m-subscriber mark in its second year of running and a year later, in 2000, it had already signed up 4.1m subscribers.
Ball will be ringing the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange today to mark BSkyB's fifth anniversary, along with chief financial officer Martin Stewart, following in the footsteps of luminaries such as Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson.
Shares in BSkyB, traded on the London Stock Exchange, were trading at 622.5p this morning, a rise of 1.3%, or 8p, on the previous close.
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