Sky Network Television Enjoys Profit Increase

A 10.9% raise to their profit for the year ending June has given Sky Network Television a boost against competition and other emerging content providers.

The pay-TV network said that a big part of their success is due to the increase of its subscriber base.

The company’s net profit after tax is at $NZ137.2 Million ($A121.35 million), and has even exceeded the forecast made by First NZ Capital, which pegged this at $NZ133.2m. Sky Network television’s previous annual profit was at $NZ123.7 Million.

The company also reports that its earnings increased to 5.1% or at $NZ353m before interest, taxes, amortisation and depreciation.

The Olympic coverage, which took place in London last August, was its biggest initiative and was considered a huge success in terms of customer satisfaction and viewership. But the company said, its production cost was so high, that the Olympics actually affected the network’s finances, given that it also didn’t meet its projected advertising revenue.

Sky Network Television, however, continues to thrive with an increased subscriber base. In fact, revenue per subscriber was up at 5.4%.

The company is also pushing its latest MYSKY HDi decoder, with over 55.5% of its subscribers in the residential area using the unit. Last year, this number was only at 46.7%.

Analysts are keen if the company will be able to keep its customers with this new decoder, on top of the competition with Coliseum Sports, an online based service provider which had recently won the rights to the English Premiere League.