Sky Deutschland: Subs up but needs more cash
January 12, 2011
Sky Deutschland has turned the corner on declining subscriber numbers, but wants to support the upturn with more investment in HD. Controlling shareholder News Corp has agreed to increase the cash injection agreed in the summer from €340 million to €400 million.
Sky added 131,000 subs in Q4 2010 and 183,00 for the year as a whole taking the total to 2.65 million. The HD package took 133,000 new subscribers in Q4 2010, both new subscribers and existing subscribers upgrading. The share of HD subscribers has now grown to 22.4 per cent.
Financials will be available in February but the operator forecast EBITDA loss for 2010 to be between €260 and €270 million.