Sky introduces new prices and packages to win subscribers

by Sam Matthews, Brand Republic 23-Jun-05, 11:00

LONDON - Sky is raising the price of its top-tier package to more than £500 a year as it rolls out six new packages, including Kids and Music, to attract more subscribers and fight off growing competition.

The Sky World package, the most popular accounting for more than 50% of Sky Digital subscribers, will rise in price from £41 to £42.50 a month.

The six new packages available also include Variety, Knowledge, Style and News. Subscribers can choose whether to pick two, four or six mixes at varying prices.

The basic two mix will cost £15 a month, up from £13.50 from Sky's previous Value pack, which will be phased out from September 1.

All six genre mixes will cost £21.50. Sky's Family Value Pack containing roughly the same amount of channels was previously priced at £19.50.

The changes bring a five-fold increase in the number of available packages and is designed to show that Sky is not an "all or nothing" product.

The channel mixes have been set up to boost Sky's subscribers to 10m by 2010, a target set by James Murdoch, chief executive of BSkyB.

Sky put on 95,000 additional subscribers in its third quarter, taking it to 7.7m subscribers.

"Enhancing the flexibility and simplicity of the Sky proposition for current customers and future customers is at the centre of what we do," Murdoch said.

Sky is contacting customers this week to inform them of the changes.

In addition, Sky is unveiling plans for a a broadband television service later this week, which will enable top-tier subscribers to download movie and sports programmes over the internet for free.

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