Sky hit by loss of Serie A as Comcast blooms in Q3

Sky saw its customer relationship base drop by 233,000 as a result of its loss of Serie A rights in Italy in a third quarter that was generally highly positive for parent Comcast.

Sky’s loss of customers in Italy was partly offset by an increase in customer relationships in the UK, but its total customer relationship base has decreased by 259,000 in the year to date.

However, Q3 revenue for Sky increased 4.1% to $5.0 billion in the third quarter of 2021. Excluding the impact of currency, revenue was consistent with the prior year period, reflecting lower content revenue partially offset by higher advertising revenue and consis0tent direct-to-consumer revenue

Adjusted EBITDA increased 88.8% to US$971 million in the third quarter of 2021. Excluding the impact of currency, Adjusted EBITDA increased 76.2%, primarily reflecting lower operating expenses. The decrease in operating expenses was due to lower programming and production expenses, primarily reflecting lower sports programming costs associated with the timing of sports rights amortization and the reduction in Sky’s broadcast rights to Serie A in Italy.

Parent Comcast’s revenue jumped by 18% year-on-year to US30.3 billion for the quarter, while adjusted EBITDA was up 18.1% to US$8.96 billion.

US cable revenue increased by 7.4% to $16.1 billion in the third quarter, driven by increases in broadband, wireless, business services, video, other, and advertising revenue, partially offset by a decrease in voice revenue

Customer relationships increased by 255,000 to 34.0 million. Total broadband customer net additions were 300,000, partly offsetting total video customer net losses of 408,000, and total voice customer net losses were 158,000.