Sky TV brings viewers on board at a brisk clip

Sky Television was adding new subscribers at a faster rate this year than last year, chief executive John Fellet said yesterday.

But he told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in Auckland that the company had no plans to change a target of 40,000 new subscribers for this financial year, the same as last year's goal.

Fellet said the rate at which new subscribers were added exceeded last year's for each month since the end of June, except in July. The company had signed up 10,000 new subscribers since the financial year ended compared with only 5000 at this time last year. That has taken overall subscriber numbers above 630,000.

But Fellet did not plan to revise forecasts as last year's slow start was overcome by the Lions' tour in the latter half and there was no similar event on the horizon this year.

Despite a busy year, which saw the company renew a five-year deal for rugby coverage, almost triple after-tax profit to $103.4 million, and restructure, shareholders asked few questions.

One shareholder, upset that his Sky service was out and would not be repaired until next week, won a quick response from Fellet. He pointed out the company's head of operations, seated in the audience.

"He'll be around to your place tonight," Fellet told the shareholder, drawing a laugh from the audience.

Expansion plans include Food Television in November and an advertising-free channel aimed at preschoolers, Playhouse Disney, which will launch Christmas Eve.