Digital viewers up but sales fall.Users numbers rise but Foxtel revenues still dropped $96 million to $697 m for the quarter to March 31, blamed on foreign currency fluctuations, News Corp said in a statement.
Foxtel subscriber numbers jumped 5% to 2.6 million driven by an increase in digital subscribers to Play, which it has been pushing hard, as well as the exclusive Australian broadcast of cult TV shows like Game of Thrones.
Cable and satellite churn improved almost 2% to 13.1%, which indicates the rate at which subscribers are leaving the Pay TV service.
News Corp’s total quarterly sales fell 5% to $2.08 billion, blamed on lower ad revenues from newspapers and foreign currency fluctuations. The media giant’s Australian newspapers, which includes The Daily telegraph and The Australian, declined 21% alone.
Net profit (available to stockholders) fell dramatically – to $48 million compared to $323 million for the prior year.
Foxtel’s operating income jumped $14 m to $132 m due to cost savings and reduced asset amortization from the Austar acquisition.
