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BSkyB Broadcasts 20-Percent Fall In Quarterly Net Profit
London (AFP) Nov 3, 2006 British satellite broadcaster BSkyB said Friday that its first-quarter profits fell owing to the cost of launching a broadband Internet service. Net profit slid 20.7 percent to 116 million pounds (173 million euros, 221 million dollars) during the three months that ended on September 30, compared with the same period in 2005, the group said in an earnings release. Group revenue rose 10.9 percent to 1.071 billion pounds in the first quarter as it added 82,000 subscribers to its pay-TV service, which broadcasts exclusive live coverage of English Premiership football. BSkyB now has 8.258 million subscribers to its pay-TV service. The company also said that operating profit, or earnings before interest payments and taxation, fell 16.3 percent to 180 million pounds, as the cost of launching the Internet service rose to 42 million pounds. Excluding these start-up costs, profits rose 3.0 percent to 222 million pounds in the first quarter, BSkyB said. "While it is still early, we are pleased with the progress since the launch of Sky Broadband and, in just 15 weeks, we've seen a great response from Sky customers," BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch said in comments included in the earnings statement. A total 74,000 customers had signed up to its Internet service by the end of October following its launch over the summer. BSkyB is ploughing some 400 million pounds into the broadband service, and said it needs to win over 3.0 million customers by the financial year ending June 2010 before it reaches profitability. BSkyB has launched a broadband service as it looks to take on telecoms giants including BT Group, Carphone Warehouse and France Telecom's Orange in the market for high-speed Internet access. BSkyB subscribers are entitled to a free basic broadband service but must pay a monthly subscriptions for a faster connection. The British satellite broadcaster moved into broadband after buying telecoms firm Easynet in October 2005 for 211 million pounds. It has built much of its success during the past decade on winning exclusive rights to screen live coverage of English Premiership football. But earlier this year, Irish pay-TV operator Setanta broke the monopoly, winning the rights to show 46 matches per season between 2007 and 2010. BSkyB will show 92 live matches per season.
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Astrium-Built BADR-4 Satellite Ready For Launch
Baikonur, Kazakhstan (SPX) Nov 02, 2006Launch preparation is well underway in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, for the launch of BADR-4, a Eurostar E2000+ satellite built by Astrium for the Arab Satellite Communications Organization (ARABSAT). The Proton Breeze M vehicle of International Launch Services (ILS) is scheduled for lift off on 8 November at 20:01 GMT (2:01 a.m. on 9 November Baikonur time). |
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