Sky releases 4Q 2015 results

SKY plc has released unaudited results for the six months ended 31 December 2015.

UK and Ireland

We added a further 146,000 TV customers in the quarter, while churn was down 30 basis points year on year to 10.2%, the lowest Q2 level for four years.

Germany and Austria

In Germany and Austria we added 120,000 customers in Q2, bringing total customer growth for the past 12 months to over 370,000 and making Germany one of Europe’s fastest-growing pay TV markets. This was a good performance against the backdrop of churn rising to the more normalised level of 9.8% due to the expected impact of customers reaching the end of 24-month contracts. Paid-for product growth was strong at 345,000 with HD growth up 8% year on year to 161,000.

Italy

In Italy we increased our customers by 12,000 in the quarter and added 23,000 paid-for products as customers continue to respond to our broad content offering and the roll out of our connected home strategy. We delivered an excellent performance on churn – down 10 basis points year on year to 9.9%, supported by very good uptake of our new customer loyalty programme.

Plans for 2016: Innovation

Later in the year, we will launch a new Sky+HD box in Germany and Italy, giving customers updated features and technology. The box will be compatible with Sky Q functionality, giving our customers the ability to access Sky Q features, as detailed below, at a later date.

Later in the year we will be launching a brand new NOW TV box, offering seamless access to over 60 free-to-air channels alongside the pay content. This will be our most advanced NOW TV product to date and will offer a streaming service to customers who want to access live free-to-air television alongside some pay content, all in one integrated offering.

Next month we bring our ground-breaking Sky Q product to market in the UK. Not only will Sky Q redefine how we watch TV, but it makes it easier than ever for customers to access the best of the web and their own personal content along with their favourite TV shows, on the big screen and on their devices.

The Sky Q suite of products connects wirelessly, making TV viewing seamless, and enables customers to access a whole range of fantastic features. These include pausing viewing on one TV screen and picking up in another room, saving recordings onto a tablet to watch anywhere, and watching different programmes on up to five screens simultaneously whilst also recording four other channels.

In 2016, Sky Q will evolve with the addition of the UK’s most comprehensive Ultra HD service, powerful voice search and its own app for mobile devices, plus more partnerships and content.