BSkyB moves closer to the magical ten million customer mark

The group's customer base stood at 9.956 million households at the end of September – and it wants to hit the 10 million target, set in 2004, by the end of the year.

The broadcaster also saw a 39 per cent leap in the number of customers who take TV, broadband and telephone services from the group – a total of 2.3 million customers.

BSkyB, which recently rebuffed a proposal by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation to take full control of the UK satellite broadcaster, said it would be opening a new call centre, creating 500 jobs, to support the growth.

The climb in customer numbers came as BSkyB posted a 25 per cent rise in operating profits in the quarter to 255m and a 15 per cent increase in revenues to 1.5bn.

The customer number target was set six years ago by then chief executive of BSkyB James Murdoch when subscriber numbers were at 7.4 million.

The group is rolling out a strategy to attract customers to additional products such as high-definition (HD) television, phone and broadband services.

In the first quarter, the group said it turned its focus on home communications and achieved its highest ever combined quarterly growth for TV, phone and broadband customers, which boosted total additional product sales by 13 per cent to 893,000.

BSkyB said 32 per cent of its customers now subscribe to its HD service, with a further 215,000 net additions in the first quarter to surpass three million customers.

The start of the second quarter saw Sky 3D, Europe's first in-home 3D channel, launched with coverage of the Ryder Cup golf tournament on October 1.

But yesterday's trading update did not give any further details on the progress of Rupert Murdoch's 700p-a-share approach for the 61 per cent of BSkyB that NewsCorp does not currently own, valuing the FTSE 100 company at just over 12bn.

In June, BSkyB said the proposal significantly undervalued the business and called for an offer in excess of 800p a share.

Media groups joined forces to launch an assault on the move, petitioning Business Secretary Vince Cable to consider blocking the plans.

BSkyB said it had identified a number of potential locations for its new contact centre, but would not specify where it was looking.

The group has recently expanded its channel offering, after buying Living TV, and will launch a new channel – Sky Atlantic HD – in early 2011.

Sky Atlantic HD will screen new series from US channel HBO, as well as the fifth season of award-winning drama Mad Men, which was recently poached from the BBC.

The addition of Living TV will bring US hit series Nikita and America's Next Top Model to the schedule.