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BSkyB records net loss due to ITV write-down
London (AFP) Feb 6, 2008 British pay-TV giant BSkyB on Wednesday posted a net loss in the first half of its financial year as the group booked a hefty charge on the dwindling value of its 17.9-percent stake in broadcaster ITV. BSkyB said it chalked up a net loss of 112 million pounds (150 million euros, 219 million dollars) in the six months to December. That compared with a net profit of 246 million pounds in the same period of the previous year. BSkyB, controlled by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, added that turnover increased by 10.7 percent to 2.46 billion pounds in the first half. Pre-tax profit also swung into the red, with a loss of 36 million pounds, from a profit of 356 million last time, after the company booked a 343-million-pound charge on the value of its ITV stake. BSkyB bought 17.9 percent of independent television broadcaster ITV for 940 million pounds in November 2006 but the holding has since tumbled in value along with ITV's share price. In addition, the British government ruled last week that BSkyB must cut its holding in ITV to below 7.5 percent, as recommended by competition authorities. Many television industry analysts saw BSkyB's stake as preventing an ITV tie-up with rival group Virgin Media, whose largest single shareholder is Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. BSkyB added Wednesday that first-half profits were also hit by its expensive launch into the fiercely-competitive markets for broadband Internet and telephone services in Britain. "We have made good progress during the quarter," said the group's new chief executive Jeremy Darroch, who replaced Rupert Murdoch's son James last December. He added: "We enter calendar year 2008 in good shape. A combination of outstanding choice, quality and value leadership leaves us well positioned." BSkyB said it now has 8.832 million subscribers for its pay-TV service and repeated that it hopes to reach 10 million people by 2010. As well as providing pay-TV via satellite to its customers, BSkyB also offers phone and Internet broadband services. At the end of last year, James Murdoch was named boss of News Corporation in Europe and Asia in a move seen as putting him in line to succeed father and media mogul Rupert Murdoch as head of the sprawling empire. James Murdoch was replaced at BSkyB by Darroch, who was formerly the group's financial director. Related Links The latest information about the Commercial Satellite Industry
Russia Puts New Telecoms Satellite Into Orbit
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jan 29, 2008Russia successfully put into orbit on Monday a new Express-AM33 telecommunications satellite, the Federal Space Agency said. The satellite, designed by the Reshetnev Applied Mechanics Science and Production Association to provide TV and satellite communications all over Russia, was launched on board a Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan earlier on Monday. |
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