Yes, Sky is flying high - but it needs to watch that it doesn't land with a bump

Outlook

Stanley Tucci as DCI Eugene Morton, Sophie Grabol as Hildur Odegard and Christopher Eccleston as Professor Charlie Stoddart in the Sky drama 'Fortitude' (Sky)

Sky is a juggernaut – one that just keeps rolling. Far from reaching saturation point in the UK, the rate at which it has been adding net new users has been increasing at quite a clip.

Perhaps that shouldn’t come as any great shock. In addition to enjoying a virtual stranglehold on televised sport, it screens some of the best drama the US has to offer through a tie-up with HBO that will see it through to the end of the decade.

Efforts to replicate the latter’s success as a producer of high quality content have yielded mixed results. Crime drama Fortitude qualifies as a bona fide hit, but while there have been some creditable second-tier efforts, so far it stands alone. Happily, Sky appears to have the fortitude to keep at it. And, more to the point, it has the budget, too. The really interesting forthcoming show for business viewers concerns Sky’s efforts to sustain its recent success, particularly in the wake of the price rises that have just come on stream.

The fee for nearly every package has been made subject to a heady, inflation-busting increase. Sky has sought to sweeten its pills by enhancing what it offers. But it is still open to question whether these will be enough to keep customers on board when there are alternatives available.

While the company has been pointing to the low level of churn, something that is closely watched by analysts, cynics might very well see an explanation for that in the embarrassing revelations about the hell one customer was put through in an effort to cancel his subscription. Sky is treading on dangerous ground here. Too much negative PR – my family has been plagued by obnoxious salespeople despite having successfully cancelled our subscription four years ago and requesting that they stop – could and should rebound on the company. An isolated incident, the company insists. Too many of these and Ofcom might need to start throwing its weight around.

Of course, it’s not only in Britain where Sky is flying high. The European businesses, where pay TV is still at a much earlier stage of development, are shooting for the stars. And chief executive Jeremy Darroch will have a spring in his step, as the analysts coo and the shares sizzle. He might even get a smile from Rupert Murdoch when he does the rounds of his investors.

But he should beware of hubris. It has brought down many a media company in the past, and even though Sky looks set fair, it won’t be immune if its people thumb their noses at customers too many times.