For the nine months ending March 31, the broadcaster posted a 10% rise in net profit to 425m pounds ($784m) from 385m pounds ($710m), on revenue up 9% to 3.079bn pounds ($5.68bn) from 2.813bn pounds ($5.18bn).
However, shares fell 2.08% to 518.5 pence ($9.56) on the London Stock Exchange as the markets digested the fact that Sky only managed to add 40,000 new users to bring its customer base to 8.1 million. There is additional concern from investors as BSkyB is competing in the recent second-round auction of Premiership live football television rights. It won three of the six packages up for auction, and it is hoping to win a further two of the six packages on offer.
BSkyB has a lot on its plate. It is set to launch its high-definition television service on May 22 in time for the football World Cup in Germany. Of more interest however is its residential broadband service, which is now due to launch sometime this summer, although it did not give a firm date.
BSkyB had said earlier this year that it would launch the broadband service in the second half of 2006, but the summer launch will be welcome news, especially as it faces intense triple-play (telephone, broadband, and pay TV) competition from the likes of NTL Corp.
BSkyB is able to offer a broadband connection to UK homes thanks to its 211m pound ($373m) acquisition of UK broadband service provider Easynet Group Plc last year. It currently has 259 unbundled exchanges and is unbundling on average 12 exchanges per week. It aims to have 379 exchanges unbundled by the end of June, which would give it roughly 7.5 million (30%) of UK homes connected to a Sky-unbundled exchange. It hopes to reach 70% of the UK population by the end of 2007.
The broadband service will allow BSkyB to push content and offer alternative services without relying on its core satellite system. There is market speculation that it will offer a free broadband connection to its premium customers in a move designed to counter the free broadband offering from the Carphone Warehouse Plc.
