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Austar subscribers up, profits down

AUSTAR has announced a 63.2% fall in profit for the 2007 calendar year to $77.3 million. Its pre-tax earnings for 2007 were $84.7 million, compared with a $32.9 million loss the year before, with revenue up 13% to $568 million.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 23 per cent to $174 million in 2007.

Austar increased its subscriber base by 11.3% for the year to 668,786.

“Austar believes that our subscriber success is completely in our hands and that’s how we’re approaching 2008 and 2009,” chief executive John Porter said.

Churn, which is the number of account holders whose service is terminated during the period, increased to 1.33 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 1.10 per cent recorded in the third quarter.

Mr Porter predicted the recent launch of its MyStar digital video recorder would trigger a “return to form” in ARPU.

MyStar, similar to Foxtel’s iQ, costs an additional $15 a month for Austar customers. The company wants at least 10% of its customers to have the device by the end of the year, partly because it makes them more likely to remain customers.

Mr Porter confirmed Austar’s interest in high-definition broadcasting, but said it would not be done until after Foxtel had completed the second stage of its HD launch in May next year.

Sources:
The Age,
SMH

One Response

  1. A surprising result. I would have suspected with more people discovering ways to enjoy their favourite Television Shows via the internet underworld, that subscribers would have reduced.

    When you can have access to shows hours after they air in the country of origin that are advertisement free in similar quality you’d expect the choice to be an easy one.

    In the years to come is TV going to be able to evolve and survive the information age?

    Many shows are now offering fans past episodes to watch on their official sites.

    Video didn’t quite kill the radio star… But will internet file sharing communities kill TV?

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