BT Sport customer base breaks 2.5m mark
BT Sport’s customer base has surpassed the 2.5 million BT has revealed, with reported pre-tax profits rising by an 6 per cent to £617m.
The telecoms company, which launched its sport channel in August last year, saw reported pre-tax profits for the three quarters of its financial year until 31 December, fall by 7 per cent to £1,565m, having invested heavily in its new channel’s content offering.
Its revenue for the third quarter rose by 2 per cent to £4,599m however.
Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT Group, described the results as “encouraging”.
He continued: "Our strategic investments are delivering. It was another record quarter for fibre take-up and there are now more than 18 million premises with access to our fibre. That number will grow further as the BDUK programme progresses.
"Fibre helps SMEs to compete and underpins our TV plans. Our direct BT Sport customer base passed 2.5 million in the quarter and helped to support 6% revenue growth in our Consumer business. We achieved some particularly strong audience figures in December and the exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League that we have won will further strengthen the appeal of our proposition.
"Outside the UK our businesses in the high-growth regions of the world again delivered double-digit revenue growth.
"The momentum on our cost transformation has enabled us to raise our EBITDA outlook for the year. It is important that we keep up the progress we are making across the group whilst continuing to focus on improving the service we provide to our customers.”
Adjusted pre-tax profits for the company rose by 8 per cent to £722m for the third quarter, and by 5 per cent for the nine month period to £1,926m.