BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) has declared its Sky Go live and on-demand service – with which subscribers can watch over PC, Mac, Xbox, iPad and iPhone – has 1.6 million viewers. “Sky customers watched 33 million pieces of content in September alone,” CEO Jeremy Darroch told investment analysts on Wednesday.
Sky Go, launched in July for free to Sky subscribers, is partly the Sky Player service which already existed. Android and other platforms are coming in the next few months. BSkyB is likely to link it in with The Cloud WiFi hotspot service it recently acquired.
The service shows Sky is increasingly keen to be viewed on platforms other than its historical satellite boxes. For now, customers require a Sky satellite subscription, but they can use Sky Go on up to two other registered devices. One Nomura analyst told Darroch there is anecdotal evidence to suggest primary customers are sharing those accounts so their friends need not become Sky subscribers.
“I dropped my son off at university the other day and noticed that one or two people had (their parents’) Sky Go subscriptions,” Darroch replied. “It’s something which we will keep a close eye on. if we felt that was something which was getting in the way of TV, we’d come back to that.”
BSkyB Q3 operating profit rose 16 percent to £295 ($463.62) million on nine percent higher revenue of £1.65 ($2.6) billion. It is now ringing an extra £25 ($39.29) per year from customers for an average ARPU of a whopping £535. ($840.8) And the customer base grew by 392,000 to 10.37 million.