Premiere drops subs
May 15, 2009
Germany's Premiere increased first quarter losses of E80 million, against E28.1m in Q1 2008. It lost 28,000 subscribers on the quarter, for a total of 2,371,000. ARPU was up E1 at E23.86m. The churn rate was steady but at a high 22.4%. The company said it expects to reverse its decline in subscriber numbers in the second half of 2009.
"Our Q1 results are in line with our expectations. We expect subscriber growth to commence only in the second half of this year following our comprehensive sales, marketing and customer service initiatives," said Premiere CEO Mark Williams. He predicted a return to profitability in 2011. He confirmed Premiere would take the name Sky Deutschland.