Sky reported that an "increasing proportion of its customers" canceled their subscriptions in the last quarter after the European pay-TV group started limiting discounts in the U.K. and lost the rights to show UEFA Champions League football in Italy, according to Robert Cookson of the FINANCIAL TIMES. But "in spite of an increased level of customer churn, Sky met analysts’ financial expectations" and reported that group revenues rose 5% to £8.72B ($12.5B) over the nine months to March. The company, which operates in the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria, said that it experienced "good trading" across all its markets. In total, the company "added 177,000 new customers in the third quarter," taking its total customer base to 21.7 million. Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch said, "It's been another strong quarter for Sky." Darroch said that the increase in churn in the U.K. "reflected the company's decision to limit discounts." In Italy, churn for the quarter was 11% -- up from 9.7% in the same quarter in the previous year -- "as a result" of Sky's loss of UEFA Champions League rights to its rival Mediaset. Analysts at Barclays said that the “big uncertainty” for Sky in the coming months came from the auction of pay-TV domestic live rights to games of the Bundesliga. Under the new terms of the auction, which is expected to be "fiercely contested," Sky will not be able to take all of the rights exclusively (FT, 4/21).
