Sky Deutschland beats analyst expectations

Pay TV operator Sky Deutschland has turned in a solid set of results, beating analysts’ expectations with a smaller loss than predicted.

Sky added 98,000 net customers in the third quarter, more than doubling its additions year-on-year and taking its net additions for the year to over 200,200. Gross additions numbered 188,000, up 17% year-on-year, and churn fell to 12.7% from 18.5% a year ago. Total customers numbered 2.857 million at the end of September.

Sky Premium HD subscriptions grew by over 100,000 in the quarter to reach 818,000 and the Sky Plus DVR service is now taken by over 200,000 homes.

Revenues for the quarter were up 17% to €284.5 million and EBITDA was up 66% to negative €18.6 million. The company now expects its full year EBITDA loss to be between €145 million and €175 million, with the positive operational and financial trend to continue into next year.

Brian Sullivan, CEO of Sky Deutschland AG said: “Our clear focus on customers and market-leading innovation has continued to deliver strong operational results and enhanced financial performance. We improved across all key metrics, achieving the best Q3 net customer growth in the history of the company.”

Separately, Sky and public broadcaster ARD have secured the rights to Germany’s DFB Cup football for the next four seasons. Sky secured the pay TV rights to air DFB Cup games on a platform neutral basis, allowing it to deliver coverage via mobile and tablet devices as well as on TV and the web.

ARD will air a total if eight live games and highlights of the other games.