One in five Sky customers now take TV, broadband and telephony, a rise of 36% on last years figures according to the latest financial results from Sky. This has boosted the average revenue per user to £508 a year, up 9% over the previous year. Overall, a net growth of 90,000 customers brought the company to a total subscriber base of 9.86 million, just shy of the 10 million milestone. Adjusted revenue was up 11% to £5,912 million with adjusted operating profit up 10% to £855 million.
Strong demand has continued for Sky+HD from new and existing customers with 30% of these opting for the high-definition product. 429,000 new HD customers were added in the quarter, giving a 12 month growth of 1.6 million. The company now airs 43 high-definition channels with plans to reach 50 by the end of 2010. 3D will follow later in 2010 with the company expecting to launch the Sky 3D channel to consumers on the 1st of October following the success of a 3D launch to commercial customers.
Sky's broadband and telephony products became profitable for the first time this quarter following the completion of the roll-out of the fully unbundled network (LLU). 119,000 broadband customers were added pushing the on-net total to 883,000 customers of the 2.62 million broadband customers. Telephony customers rose by 137,000, a smaller increase than the same quarter last year pushing the total telephony customers to 2.37 million.
"We've had another good quarter to bring our financial year to a strong close. Customers are choosing Sky in ever greater numbers, not just for TV but across our entire product range.
High definition goes from strength to strength, with more than twice as many customers as a year ago. At the same time, customers are choosing broader bundles of services, with one in five now taking all three of TV, broadband and telephony. Overall, customers are taking 45% more additional subscription products than a year ago.
Strong customer demand is increasingly reflected in our financial results, with double- digit growth in each of revenue, operating profit and cash flow. Earnings per share are up 20% to a record 31.1p and we are proposing a further 10% increase in the full year dividend, which has now doubled over the last five years.
Today we're announcing new plans to bring even more standout content to customers. A multi-year partnership will make Sky the exclusive home of new HBO programming and we're looking forward to a new slate of original UK comedy on Sky1 HD and the launch of 3D TV to residential customers on 1 October. The recent acquisition of the Living TV Group will help us to broaden our entertainment offering still further in the future.
It has been a good year for Sky but we stay focused on the challenge ahead. The economic outlook remains uncertain and, against that backdrop, we'll pursue the consistent set of priorities that have served us well so far. Executing on these plans will build a larger, more profitable business for the long term."
Jeremy Darroch, (Chief Executive) BSkyB
..and unlike VM, Sky generate something called a 'profit'. Probably why VM sold its TV channels to Sky.