BSkyB added 215,000 new subscribers in the quarter ending December 2005 totalling Sky subscribers to 8.1 million.

Announcing results for the three months ended December 31, BSkyB confirmed that:

-Subscriber growth of 215,000 in the quarter to 8.1 million

-Sky+ households increased by 254,000 to 1,281,000 million

-Multiroom households increased by 158,000 to 906,000

-Revenue increased by 9% to £2,136 million

James Murdoch, BSkyB Chief Executive said: "The business is moving forward on all fronts, including strong growth in earnings and cash flow. In the last quarter, more customers joined Sky than at any time in the last three years and we’ve seen record growth in Sky+ and Multiroom households. Now nearly one in three families chooses Sky. This year, we’ll push the bar further with the launch of high-definition TV and our broadband service. We are well positioned to sustain our growth as existing and future customers tell us that Sky is their preferred brand for new entertainment and communications services. Results like these reinforce our confidence that we will achieve our goal of 10 million customers in 2010."

Churn, the number of subscribers that left Sky for the quarter was 10.6%, a reduction of 1.1 percentage points on the previous quarter.

This reflects the seasonal effect of Christmas and no price changes in the quarter. The Group is trialling a range of initiatives aimed at improving customer retention over time. These include a new welcome process, an improved customer information programme and greater use of predictive modelling to anticipate at risk customers. The Group’s medium term target for churn remains around 10%, but it continues to expect churn for the 2006 financial year to be around 11%.