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The recession has passed BSkyB by as the pay-tv broadcaster confidently predicted it will put on another half a million customers over the next year and pass the landmark of being in 10 million homes in 2010.
“We will get there,” said chief executive Jeremy Darroch.
“We are a bit ahead of plan at the moment and though we will not overly push it, we will get to 10 million some time in 2010.
“Like any consumer business we are not immune [to the consumer spending squeeze] and we are not complacent but frankly we are great value if you compare us to the price of a family night out.”
Much of the half million new customers that Sky needs to get to 10 million households in the UK and Ireland is likely to come in the coming weeks as families give themselves a Christmas treat.
They will treat themselves to either a first-time Sky subscription or an upgrade to Sky+HD, the kit which allows viewers to watch in high definition and record or pause programmes.
In the three months to the end of September, Sky put on a net new 94,000 customers to take its total number of households up to 9.53 million.
More impressively, the number of Sky+ customers rose 411,000 to 5.9 million, or 60% of the customer base, while the number of Sky+HD customers grew by 287,000 to 1.6 million, a growth rate three times faster than a year ago.
Analysts had fretted that the cost of subsidising the Sky+HD kit to make it affordable would eat into the company's profits. Darroch admitted those subsidies had cost Sky £33 million in the quarter but it is reckoned increased subscriptions for the service will get that money back within two years.
Growth in the number of households taking Sky broadband or its talk landline services helped operating profits in what is the first quarter of its financial year rise 11% to £198 million on revenues up 10% to £1.38 billion.
The average amount households are paying per year for Sky products rose 9% to £39 a month or £469 over a year. The strength of BSkyB's performance sent its shares soaring to an 18-month high, 24p up at 583½p.
The rally in BSkyB's shares has seen the stock rise by more than 50% over the past 12 months from a low last autumn of 372p.
