A BSkyB trading update ahead of issuing preliminary full-year results on July 27 underscores the gap between it and Virgin Media …BSkyB added 207,000 more subscribers to its Sky+ PVR service in the three months to June 30, taking the platform up to 2.37 million users, meaning 28 percent of its TV customers now take the service. Meanwhile, 48,000 more customers took HD TV service, taking subscriptions to 292,000, while BSkyB’s broadband service saw the largest increase, with another 259,000 customers taking it up to 716,000. The company added a total 90,000 net customers and, on a churn rate of 12.1 percent, a record 349,000 gross customers, beating expectations. BSkyB subscribers now stand at 8.6 million. Statement.
It is around 18 months since BSkyB bought Easynet, one of the U.K.’s oldest ISPs, and began offering its own broadband service along with satellite TV and telephony. It has also been taking TV customers from Virgin Media.
– Virgin: BSkyB CEO James Murdoch, in the analysts call, supported yesterday’s supposition BSkyB and Virgin Media could kiss and make up: “Perhaps new leadership would engage in a more real way. We would like to have a more productive relationship with current management … but if it takes new management, so be it.”