BSkyB to Offer 3D Channel in Coming Months

British Sky Broadcasting will begin to offer its first 3D channel, 3D Sky, in October, the company said Thursday. The channel won’t require a set-top box upgrade and will be free to BSkyB customers already subscribed to the company’s top HD and channels package, it said. The immediate financial effect on the U.K. direct broadcast satellite provider remains unclear, CEO Jeremy Darroch said on an earnings teleconference.

"We are going to get in-market and see how we go,” said Darroch. “If it is one of the ways we can keep building HD [subscriptions] then that’s gonna be a good place to add value as we start to get more scale and more usage. That will give us more insight on what is the right long-term pricing model.” BSkyB also inked a multi-year agreement with HBO allowing BSkyB to be the exclusive U.K. provider of the channel, it said without disclosing the terms. BSkyB will offer the channel after Sept. 1. Darroch remained mostly quiet on the prospects of News Corp.’s proposed acquisition of the BSkyB shares it doesn’t already own, declining to speculate on the future of the deal.

The company is also beginning to use the broadband connection of all HD set-top boxes to sell new products, it said. A new VOD service named Anytime+ will provide access to more than 500 movies and third-party broadcasters, it said. BSkyB will push the content over the Internet, allowing faster downloads, said Chief Financial Officer Andrew Griffith. About 30 percent of BSkyB’s subscribers purchase HD, he said.

BSkyB’s revenue rose 12 percent to $2.39 billion in the quarter ended June 30. Profit almost quadrupled to $524.5 million. BSkyB added 90,000 subscribers on a net basis, down 27 percent from the year-ago quarter, it said. Subscribers that added additional products increased, largely due to new HD subscribers. Sky+HD grew 47 percent to 429,000 subscribers.