BSkyB’s reported strong subscriber growth but an increased churn rate in the company’s second quarter, which closed Dec. 31. BSkyB closed the period with nearly 8.4 million subscribers.

During the second quarter, BSkyB reported customer additions of 432,000, the highest in six years, but net subscriber growth was just 183,000, giving BSkyB its highest churn rate since it went digital, said Nick Bell, a media equity analyst at Bear Stearns.

“In our view, this market shows a continuing trend of rising churn in what is becoming an increasingly competitive marketplace given the NTL/Telewest rebrand to Virgin Media this quarter and BT is still to fully roll out BT Vision,” Bell said in a research note.

In terms of high-definition television (HDTV) and broadband, two key performance barometers for the company in 2007, BSkyB said it now has close to 185,000 HD subscribers and 260,000 broadband subscribers.