Media analysts are predicting an additional 150,000 subscribers will have joined Sky in the three months to December 31, although some say this figure could be as high as 175,000, as Sky releases its second-quarter results on February 2.
The increase in sales is likely to have been driven by Sky's £20m autumn marketing campaign "What do you want to watch?" and its new initiative, Sky in a Box, offering consumers the service off the shelf.
The previous quarter, Sky revealed that a modest 62,000 subscribers had signed up, taking its total to 7.4m.
Sky chief executive James Murdoch has set a target of 8m subscribers by the end of 2005 and 10m by 2010. Sky would have to receive 117,000 new subscribers each quarter to reach that figure.
However, Sky's subscriber figures have slowed down with the launch of free-to-air digital service Freeview and FreeSat, Sky's own non-subscription service, on the rise. The 62,000 figure to September 2004 was down on the previous quarter's figure of 81,000.
The news comes as Christmas sales have increased the number of Freeview households in the UK to 5m according to the BBC, compared with almost 4m at the end of September. Freeview is now the fastest-growing television service.
Last September, research from Continental revealed Sky Digital is likely to reach James Murdoch's target of 8m customers by the end of this year, with an extra 500,000 customers expected to sign up.
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