KEY POINTS:
Sky Network Television has reported a 40.3 per cent increase in half year net profit to $51.2 million.
Revenue for the six months to the end of December rose 8.3 per cent to $328.7 million, compared to the corresponding period a year earlier, the company said today.
Monthly average revenue per subscriber, known as arpu, was up by 2.8 per cent to $61.96 from $60.28 in the comparative period.
The increase in revenue was also due to a 5.5 per cent increase in subscribers, although installation revenue decreased due to lower installation rates charged to customers, Sky TV chief executive John Fellet said.
An improving Prime TV also contributed to the result, with Sky TV's revenue including a 22 per cent increase in advertising revenue from Prime to $14.3m.
The company declared an interim dividend of 7 cents a share, compared to 5 cents a share last year.
Total operating costs were up by 2.5 per cent to $229.4m, Mr Fellet said.
Programming costs were up by 0.5 per cent, with the cost of new channels being offset by savings from a stronger New Zealand dollar and lower rugby programming costs due to fewer All Black test matches in a World Cup year.
An increase in subscriber management costs of $1.7m, or 8.3 per cent, was mainly related to an increase in subscriber numbers and to additional decoder repair costs reflecting the increasing age of Sky's decoder base.
Sales and marketing expenses were up 4.3 per cent to $19.4m, mainly due to increased subscriber acquisition costs.
Capital expenditure increased by $12.5m to $54.9m due mainly to the costs of a broadcasting upgrade project of $20.5 million.
Those increases were offset by decreases in decoder costs that were high in the comparative period due to the purchase of a stock of "My Sky" decoders and broadcast equipment costs related to the building of a second satellite uplink facility.
Prime Television's share of peak viewing ratings increased to an average for the six month period of 6.2 per cent from 6.1 per cent.
Work on a new high definition, digital television station was going to plan, with completion expected during the 2008 financial year.
Sky TV shares were up 3c to $4.97 in early trading today, just above the year low of $4.92 hit on Wednesday and down from $6.26 in February 2007.
- NZPA
