Sky to try internet TV again this year

Sky TV says 24.4pc of its residential customers now have its MYSKY HDi decoder. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Sky Television bosses have revived the push into internet TV as new subscriber uptake slows and new competitors appear on the horizon.

Yesterday, chief executive John Fellet confirmed the relaunch of the IPTV platform before the end of the year, while delivering solid financial results for the year to June 30.

The results showed the relentless growth of residential subscribers had slowed for the second year in a row, though subscribers were spending more.

While the total number of subscribers passed 800,000, the number of Sky homes was restricted to 23,496.

At 47.9 per cent, uptake lies stubbornly below the psychologically important 50 per cent mark.

Overall earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation were up, a 10.2 per cent increase in operating profit for the year to June 30.

Sky TV said 24.4 per cent of its residential subscribers were now using its My Sky decoder providing advanced recording techniques - up from 14.2 per cent last year.

Net profit after tax was up 16.9 per cent. The average revenue per user increased 5.6 per cent to $67.31 and for My Sky HDi customers it increased 8.4 per cent to $84.61.

Sky announced a total dividend for the year of 14c a share.

Fellet revealed the relaunched internet TV site - closed last year due to problems with data caps restricting downloads - had also failed because of problems with the business model.

Initially, the revived internet TV site will be limited to Sky subscribers and later will be available through the My Sky HDi recorder.

But in a a significant move the site - including streamed sports content downloads, movies and TV content - will be available to all consumers.

So far, TiVo has been the most high-profile IPTV player. But other platforms are expected to emerge in the near future.

As for the 2010 financial year - and the last two months - Fellet described "a weird market" with cautious consumers slow to increase uptake while existing customers were spending more and advertising was recovering.

Goldman Sachs JBWere analyst Tristan Joll said the weakness in subscriber uptake related to the first half of the financial year and it had recovered in the second.

The site - where people have access to streamed content or can download content to computers and TVs - made sense with emerging new platforms It was a strategic rather than a defensive move.

Fellet saw the market as being for students and flatmates who did not want the commitment of a standard pay TV subscription.