British pay-TV firm Bskyb beat forecasts with a net 82,000 new TV subscribers in the first quarter of its financial year.
Bskyb said today the subscriber growth was its best first-quarter performance for three years.
Bskyb said it had 113,000 broadband orders, and within that 74,000 were active customers. It said it had around one million registrations of interest in the service as of October 31st.
NCB said it had been expecting around 120,000 broadband orders, but said registrations for the new services were well above forecast.
Traders said Bskyb shares were set to open 10 to 12 pence higher. They closed at 550 pence yesterday, valuing the business at about £9.6 billion.
Bskyb's investment into the fiercely competitive broadband market drove down first-quarter pretax profit. But the 17 per cent fall to £166 million ($317 million) was within analysts' forecasts.
Bskyb, which is 39-per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has said it plans to invest £400 million over three years on its entry to the broadband market. It is only available when bundled with Sky's pay-TV service.
Bskyb launched the broadband service in July.
PA