TalkTalk up to £436m as more tune into value deals

TV customers grew by 175,000 to 732,000 — less than 18 months after it first offered the internet-enabled YouView set-top box

(PA)

Telecom company TalkTalk’s strategy of dodging the costly pay-TV wars between BSkyB and BT and offering “value” deals for customers who only want “a little bit” of premium TV content looks to be working.

"You don’t have to have lots of Premier League rights to have a growing telecoms business," said chief executive Dido Harding as revenue rose 5 per cent to £436 million in the last three months.

TV customers grew by 175,000 to take TalkTalk’s base to 732,000 — less than 18 months after it first offered the internet-enabled YouView set-top box. Broadband subscribers were up 110,000 after TalkTalk picked up the Post Office’s customers. Net additions rose 7000.

Harding insisted TalkTalk isn’t losing out to BT, which added 150,000 broadband customers after it began offering free Premier League games.

She said her customers aren’t interested in paying a hefty monthly subscription but would rent the occasional movie or "day pass" for Sky Sports. Monsters University was TalkTalk’s top-grossing movie at Christmas.

Harding today expanded TalkTalk’s existing wholesale deal with BSkyB, so her customers can now watch more Sky channels and content, but she does not expect to reach a similar deal with BT.

She said TalkTalk can "stand alone" and doesn’t need to merge with a bigger partner such as Vodafone. However, analysts at Jefferies warned "competition will ramp up" as Sky and others expand their low-cost offerings.