A 9.6% fall was today revealed by Sky Television Network in net profit after tax to $88.4 million, for the year ended June 30. Astonishingly, the loss comes even when subscribers and revenues are increasing.

It should be noted the results declared by Sky were affected by the costs of commissioning a new server-based digital television station and the launch of High Definition
(HD) television.

Plunge was seen in pre-tax operating profit by 12.7 per cent to $125.8m (from $144.06m the previous year) on trading revenue that was up 5 per cent to $691.96m
($658.75m). Furthermore, earnings per share dropped to 22.71 cps(25.11).

A fully imputed final dividend of 7cps was put forth by the directors, giving a total dividend for the year of 14c.

As per Chief executive John Fellet, it was another good year for the company, "with an increase in viewership of 6 per cent, reduced churn, continued growth in subscriber numbers and increased average revenue earned per subscriber."

An increase was noticed in Sky's subscriber base by 30,326 or 4.1 per cent over the previous year, to a new high of 778,902.

It should be noted that 623,564 residential digital subscribers, 22,772 residential UHF subscribers, 111,260 wholesale subscribers and 21,306 commercial and other subscribers are included in the subscriber base.

As of now, Sky has established itself in 47.2% of New Zealand homes.