[Satellite TODAY Insider 05-06-11] International cable TV operator Liberty Global reported a significant decline in its 2011 first quarter profits from $737 million in the same period last year to $342 million due to heavy competition from satellite operators and Internet streaming video services, the company announced in its latest financial results issued May 5.
    Despite revenues increasing from $2.18 billion in the first quarter of 2010 to $2.34 billion in its most recent quarter, Liberty Global’s losses on derivatives, unfavorable foreign exchange rates and the absence of a $1.4 billion profit the company took in last year from its sale of Japanese cable operator JCom impacted its final results.
    Liberty’s reliance on triple-play package services as a business model and its acquisition of German cable operator Unitymedia, however, helped offset some of the damage during the period. As of the end of the first quarter, Liberty maintained 17.6 million customers, with 22 percent of them subscribing to triple-play video, broadband Internet and telephony services. In a conference call, Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries highlighted his company’s performance in Western Europe as the region led its drive to add more than 250,000 subscribers during the quarter.
    “Unitymedia delivered its fourth consecutive quarter of improved volume growth since we purchased the business. From a product perspective, we are seeing strong growth in our digital cable business with 289,000 subscriber additions during the quarter, and we are aggressively leveraging our investment in next-generation broadband services across a 3.0-ready footprint that now exceeds 20 million homes passed in Europe and Chile. Our Fiber Power bundles offer compelling value and generally include the fastest broadband speeds available in our markets,” Fries said.
    Liberty Global subsidiary and DTH cable network operator UPC Austria saw a slight customer base decline of 5,300 to end the quarter with 521,400 total customers, due to digital TV subscriber growth of 7,600 to 276,400 unable to off-set a 12,900 decrease of analogue-only customers at the end of March.
    UPC’s broadband division revenues, however, increased 14.4 percent to $1.45 billion. The subsidiary’s Telenet division drove in a 3.5 percent increase in revenues at $454.3 million. Austar, another Liberty Global subsidiary, also enjoyed an 11.5 percent gain in revenues at $174.4 million.
    Analysts remained split over their assessments of Liberty Global’s first-quarter performance, as revenues slightly exceeded market projections. Analysts also said the impact of Liberty’s upcoming acquisition of Germany’s Kabel BW, announced in March, could help generate some consistency to net profits.

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