BSKYB PROFITS RISE WHILE SUBSCRIPTIONS FALL

BSKYB have reported a 23 per cent rise in operating profits for their first quarter, but admit that subscriber numbers are lower than predicted.
The company's losses have diminished after operating profits for the three months ended September came in at £45m.
The group made a loss before tax of £89m - including results from their share of joint ventures - compared with a loss of £123.6m last year.
Despite this BSkyB reported that their total subscriber figure was below predictions, following the changeover to digital satellite transmission.
The decision to turn off the original analogue signal has been seen as a gamble by the company on the future of digital services.
BSkyB reported that it had 5.498 million digital subscribers compared with forecasts of 5.5 million.
This also includes an increase of 190,000 in digital customers and a loss of 145,000 analogue customers.
As a result, the company's cancellation rate rose to 10.4 per cent from 10 per cent at the end of the last quarter.
BSkyB also posted a 24 per cent rise in revenue to £643m.
(GB)