DIGITAL MEDIA

Foxtel has grown its subscriber base by more than 8% and doubled its profits to $157m in the last financial year. The pay-TV operator said that its pre-tax earnings rose 48% to $351m from $237m in the year to 30 June 2008.

Foxtel reported a total of 1.54m direct and wholesale subscribers, with more than 30% of homes in Foxtel areas now signing up to the service.

According to the company, penetration of its Foxtel iQ product has increased by more than 50% in the past year, with a quarter of its subscribers using the time-delayed TV service.

Foxtel said that in the first 28 weeks of 2008, it was the most watched network across all households with 22.8% share of viewing, up from 22.1% in the same period last year.

However, in subscription TV households Foxtel claimed a 59.9% share of viewing, a figure slightly down year-on-year.

The results follow a year in which Foxtel launched its HD+ service, which includes five high definition channels. The operator said that nearly 40,000 subscribers had taken up the HD+ offering.

Kim Williams, chief executive and managing director of Foxtel, said: “Because of our continued investment in product innovation for consumers, Foxtel’s story is one of continued growth across all key metrics in the face of challenges to consumer confidence in the current economic environment.

“The successful launch of Foxtel’s HD+ and rapid growth in iQ penetration shows Foxtel continues to be the most innovative media company in Australia.”

He added: “Next year Foxtel will continue to build on the success of Foxtel HD+, launch a new improved standard definition IQ, launch new channels (following the launch of a new satellite in May 2009), commission more programs, continue to enhance Foxtel by Mobile and look at new distribution platforms such as Foxtel over broadband.”

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