BT’s TV service "reported its best quarter ever with more than 100,000 new subscribers attracted to its coverage of Champions League football," according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. The telecom, which paid £900M ($1.3B) to snatch the exclusive TV rights from Sky, said that "it signed up 106,000 TV customers in the three months to the end of September." It "is the most that BT has signed up in a quarter since the TV service, which now has 1.3 million customers, was first launched back in 2007." Sign-ups for BT Sport Europe, the channel that is home to its Champions League coverage, fueled a 6% increase in average revenue per user to £427 ($653), a metric that "indicates the profitability of each customer" (GUARDIAN, 10/29). In London, Henry Mance wrote "investment in sports rights weighed" on the telecom group's profits, with earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization falling 1% to £1.44B ($2.2B). BT CEO Gavin Patterson said BT Sport's "contribution has been better than we expected, helping drive a 7 percent increase in BT consumer revenue." Overall, BT's revenues "were flat" in the quarter ending in September at £4.38B ($6.7B). In underlying terms -- excluding specific items, currency fluctuations and disposals -- the revenues rose 2% year-on-year, "slightly ahead of analysts' expectations" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 10/29). BLOOMBERG's Amy Thomson wrote the company "committed billions of pounds in the last few years to win exclusive broadcasting rights for English and European" football games. Patterson said that he is willing to continue investing in sports content, "which has turned the unit into the company’s biggest growth driver." Patterson: "Our investments in sport are really working for our business. The opportunity exists to increase the size of the market and make it available to more and more customers. Our approach is very disciplined and we’re very clear about what sports add value to our proposition" (BLOOMBERG, 10/29).
