3rd Nov 2006 11:31
British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC03 November 2006 3 November 2006 BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING GROUP PLC (the 'Company') Annual General Meeting At the Annual General Meeting of the Company held today at The Queen ElizabethII Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3EE at 11.30a.m. The Chairman's statement follows below: "As your Chairman, and having watched Sky grow from its infancy in 1988, I'dlike to say something important about this Company. It is a truism that the world of media is changing at a pace faster than everbefore. New generations of consumers are demanding content when they want it,how they want it and very much as they want it. But it's also more than that.The boundaries between media and adjacent sectors, such as Broadband andTelephony, are disappearing and this is creating an unprecedented change in thelandscape. In this environment there's no doubt that the biggest challenge ofall is to have a clear strategy that takes advantage of these new developments.Media companies that expect historical performance to protect their businessmodels from this change will fail and fall. Many companies have indeed failed sofar to implement a clear strategy that allows them to seize the opportunitiespresented. To them the social and technological changes we are experiencing area threat, not an opportunity. In contrast Sky embraces change. No company in the UK has achieved more than Skyin the past year to adapt itself for the future and set the pace of change tomeet the needs of existing and future customers. I am proud to be Chairman ofthe Company and it is a rare occasion to be able to highlight the scale of thistransformation. One year ago, I stood here as Chairman of the U.K.'s leading Pay-TV company,which had a significant share of a sector worth around £7 billion. Today, 12months on, Sky continues to hold that leading position, but is also poised tobecome a major challenger in the adjacent sectors of broadband and telephony,estimated to be worth around £25 billion in 2010. Let me take you through whatwe've done over the last year. In content, the Group concluded a number of agreements during the year. InSports, this included the successful bids for the best packages of FA PremierLeague rights for a further three seasons from 2007 to 2010. Coupled with otherrecent agreements, such as UEFA Champions League Football and ECB Cricket, thisgives real clarity to Sky Sports' leading offering right through to the end ofthe decade. In entertainment, our new partnership with Disney means we can nowoffer more family entertainment to our customers, and with the addition of newchannels to our service, such as Artsworld, we are continuing to invest in therange and quality of our programming. We have also made our pricing andpackaging of content more simple for customers, with the introduction of "genre"packs in September last year. By organising our basic channels into six genres,customers can build their own package providing them with more choice andflexibility than ever before. In customer service, the Group implemented new customer management systems,which are a critical differentiator in a competitive market place, and assertsSky's service leadership yet again. This means we can improve sales, increasethe efficiency of our marketing and ultimately provide better service for ourexisting customers. One example of this is that you can now book a Sky+ upgradevia your remote control. One benefit to raising the bar even higher in service is that we can bring newtechnology to the market faster, leading the way in this industry. In May, welaunched the U.K.'s first national High Definition TV service, providing theultimate in picture and sound quality with the widest range of HD channels.Levels of demand from customers have been encouraging, achieving the fastestrate of take-up of any additional Sky product. This year we have also moved beyond the broadcast stream with the launch ofother new services including Europe's largest legal movie and sports downloadservice and TV via the mobile phone. This has allowed Sky Sports to offerpioneering multi-platform coverage of recent sporting events such as the RyderCup and the UEFA Champions League and there will much more to follow in futureacross many genres. Through the acquisition of Easynet Group and subsequent planning, the Grouplaunched Sky Broadband in July. This morning the Group announced that it hadreceived significant customer interest, with around one million registrations todate for Sky Broadband. This level of demand clearly shows that Sky has struck achord with customers and we are excited about the future opportunity this willprovide. Since the start, 74,000 customers have been connected, with 88% on ournetwork. Sky was founded on the premise that viewers would respond to more choice intelevision - a notion that was highly unfashionable at the time. Almost twodecades later, demand from customers for high quality products and services withcompelling value show no signs of abating. The Group's target of eight millionDTH customers by 31 December 2005 was achieved early and almost one in fourcustomers now choose an additional product, such as Sky+, Multiroom or Sky HD. Financially, the Group is in robust health. Turnover for the year to June 2006grew by 8% to £4.1 billion generating record cashflow from operations of over £1billion. This provides a substantial base from which to support growth into newbusiness areas as well as enabling returns to shareholders. Since the AGM lastyear, BSkyB has returned £592 million to shareholders via its ordinary dividendand share buy back bringing to £1.3 billion the amount over the last two years. The ordinary dividend has more than doubled in the last two years and the fullyear dividend we are proposing today represents an increase of 34% on thecomparable period. Sky is a British success story, a significant contributor to the economy andcommunity, attracting attention and admiration from around the globe. It is achampion of choice and innovation in entertainment and continues to make asustained and significant contribution to the arts, sport, education, and theenvironment. In addition, a sense of responsibility is ingrained across the organisation.BSkyB is the first major media company and only the second company in theFTSE100 to become carbon neutral, finding ways to help customers save energy intheir homes and contribute to the environment. I would like to thank all of the non-executive directors for the time they haveinvested and for their continued support. In particular, I would like to thankLord St John of Fawsley, who is retiring from the Board today, for hiscontribution over many years of service. Finally, I would like to thank all my colleagues at Sky for their tirelessdedication. It is through them that Sky will be able to grasp the vastopportunities that social and technological trends present deliveringsubstantial future value to shareholders." This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Sky