Unveiling its Q4 2008 results, the pay-TV group said it would hire about 1,000 new staff this year as it expands its broadband, telephony and pay TV presence. It signed up 171,000 new customers during the period - up from 167,000 a year earlier.
The group's advertising revenue was 1% lower year on year at £165m, down from £167m in 2008. The company said this represented "a good outperformance" of the overall TV advertising sector, which it estimated had declined by 10% in the six months to 31 December.
BSkyB said a key driver for the company would be the expansion of its high-definition TV services, which it said is a "significant opportunity".
More than seven million UK households already have HD-ready TV screens, and the company said this was expected to almost double by the end of the decade. It signed up 188,000 HD customers during Q4 to end the period with 779,000 HD subscriptions.
Overall, it had 9.2 million satellite pay-TV subscribers at 31 December, up from 9.1 million on 30 September 2008. Most analysts had expected BSkyB would add between 95,000 and 167,000 new customers in the quarter.
Following an increase in demand for HD during 2008, the broadcaster said it now saw "an attractive opportunity to invest in further accelerating the take-up of Sky+HD". As a result, it was slashing the cost of a Sky+ HD box by two-thirds to £49.
To further aid this expected growth, BSkyB is creating about 1,000 new jobs in its customer service and installation teams. Recruitment has begun for the new roles and is expected to be completed by June.
Of Sky’s 9.24 million customers, 13% take all three of its services – TV, broadband and home phone. Sky Broadband reaches 1.95 million subscribers, while average revenue per user, increased 5% year on year to reach a new high of £444 for the 12 months to the end of December.
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