TalkTalk adds 175k TV subs, extends Sky deal
February 4, 2014
UK quad-play operator TalkTalk added 175,000 TV customers in its 2013/14 Q3, according to its Q3 Interim Management Statement. The additional numbers take the viewing base to 732,000.
TalkTalk also reported that 197,000 TVoD pay- per-view movies had been taken by TV customers, compared with 123,000 for Q2.
Total revenue rose 5.1 per cent to £436 million (Q3 FY13: £415m), with on-net revenue up by 9.6 per cent year-on-year to £320 million (Q3 FY13: £292m). Corporate revenue increased by 8.8 per cent to £87 million (Q3 FY13: £80m).
Dido Harding, Chief Executive of TalkTalk, said the company was delighted with the material step up in its revenue growth during the quarter, which showed the powerful effect of combining a modestly growing customer base, disciplined pricing and promotional activity, and strong new product growth, particularly in TV.
Separately, TalkTalk confirmed it had extended its partnership with BSkyB by agreeing a new wholesale deal which will broaden and extend the distribution of Sky’s content to TalkTalk’s pay TV homes. Through the agreement, TalkTalk will continue to offer its customers a broad selection of Sky’s entertainment channels for another three years, as well as premium content from Sky Movies and Sky Sports. In addition to the linear channels, TalkTalk will also now offer catch-up content from channels including Sky 1, Sky Living and Sky Arts.
In addition, Sky will enhance the availability of NOW TV, its OTT TV service, on TalkTalk’s YouView service. Until now, only on demand content from NOW TV has been accessible through the YouView platform. However, following the introduction of multicast technology, all live Sky Sports channels on the NOW TV service – including Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2, Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports 4, Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports News – will be available to all of TalkTalk’s YouView customers on a flexible, day pass basis.
The new agreement builds upon an existing wholesale relationship between Sky and TalkTalk. TalkTalk has offered its customers access to a wide range of Sky’s entertainment, sports and movies channels since 2012.
Tristia Harrison, Managing Director, TalkTalk Consumer, said: “This deal further cements TalkTalk’s position as the destination for value-seeking families who want flexible access to great content. We are delighted to have further extended our relationship with Sky. This builds on our announcement last November that we would be offering Sky Movies and Sky Sports on-demand to subscribers at no extra cost.”
Mai Fyfield, Group Director of Strategy and Business Development, Sky, comments: ‘We’re delighted to have broadened our partnership with TalkTalk through this new agreement. As we embark upon our biggest ever year of entertainment, it allows us to extend the reach of must-see content and further grow our wholesale business. We continue to build strong, mutually-beneficial partnerships that allow us to bring our great channels to even more UK homes.”