[Satellite Today 04-30-09] France Telecom‘s earnings fell 4.4 percent due to costs associated with buying programming for its new television services in France, the company announced in its first-quarter financial report released April 29.
    The company’s EBITDA fell to 4.3 billion euros ($5.7 billion) from 4.63 billion euros ($6.14 billion) in 2008 with sales dropping 2.6 percent. The company said it was also affected by unfavorable exchange rates.
    Despite the drop, France Telecom reported that it now has 2.17 million digital TV customers in France, an increase of about 70 percent from 2008. The company also reported 316,000 subscribers to Orange TV, the satellite component of France Telecom’s digital TV service offering launched in July.
    France Telecom said it has seen strong growth in its Video-on-Demand (VoD) services with close to eight million downloads, which quadruples the company’s figures in the first quarter of 2008.