Sky challenges BBC's crown with own shows and £150m HBO deal

A dazzling set of results from the satellite broadcaster, with profits doubled to £1.17 billion, confirmed that on every major financial measure it now easily outpunches the Beeb.

Significantly, Sky also announced a range of programming deals in "standout" comedy and drama to shed its image as a sport and movies ghetto shunned by the middle classes.

The extraordinary growth of Sky will send a shiver through Broadcasting House where BBC director general Mark Thompson is under unprecedented pressure to cut costs.

Media commentator Dan Sabbagh said: "Sky is now bigger in every way in financial terms. It is now simply gushing cash after 25 years of investment The next biggest thing out there is ITV and they are a long way behind. Sky has become like the Tesco of broadcasting."

In the deals announced today, Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch said the broadcaster has recruited Gavin And Stacey star Ruth Jones for a new comedy show called Stella. Fellow comedians Catherine Tate and Dawn French will also make programmes.

Mr Darroch has also signed an exclusive deal with HBO, the acclaimed US broadcaster behind shows such as Sex And The City, The Wire and The Sopranos.

In a tie-up thought to be worth £150million over five years, Sky will have access to HBO's back catalogue and, from September, will start showing new HBO shows, starting with Martin Scorsese's Prohibition-era gangster drama Boardwalk Empire.

Sky will also launch Europe's first 3D channel from October 1.

Today's announcements follow news that Sky had signed up Melvyn Bragg for a new version of The South Bank Show, ditched by ITV after 30 years. Mr Sabbagh said: "Now it's a question of broadening the appeal and softening the brand so that it appeals to the fortysomething middle-aged couple who love the BBC and who instinctively don't like Sky. These new programming deals will give Sky this upmarket sheen and they are hoovering up the quality US content which Channel Four can't afford."

Sky - 39 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation - also splashed out £160 million to buy Virgin Media's channels, including Living TV and Bravo last month.

Today's results from parent company British Sky Broadcasting Group show that for, the first time since its launch in 1989, Sky now earns more revenue from subscriptions alone - just under £5billion - than the BBC gets from the licence fee and its other sources of income.