ASSIGNMENT ON FINANCIAL REPORTING

Assignment on Financial Reporting

Assignment on Financial Reporting

About the company

British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB or the group) is one of the leading pay television broadcast service providers in the UK and Ireland. The group markets its programs through various channels, including direct-to-home (DTH), cable operators and free to air platform. It also provides telephony and broadband services to its DTH customers. As of FY2010, the group had 9,860,000 DTH customers to its television service, and 4,312,000 subscribers of the cable operators to whom BSkyB supplies certain of its channels. The group operates principally in the UK and Ireland. It is headquartered in Middlesex, the UK, and employs 16,439 people. The group recorded revenues of £5,912 million ($9,354.6 million) during the financial year ended June 2010 (FY2010), an increase of 10.3% over FY2009. The operating profit of the group was £1,096 million ($1,734.2 million) in FY2010, an increase of 34.8% over FY2009. Its net profit was £878 million ($1,389.3 million) in FY2010, compared to net profit of £259 million ($409.8 million) in FY2009 (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2011).

British Sky serves over 10.1 million people with its broadcasting services. It employs 16,500 people. British Sky Broadcasting Group, also known as Sky, launched a direct-to-home satellite television service, including its Sky News, in 1989. Sky News was the first 24-hour news channel in Europe. The first customer management center opened that same year in Livingston, Scotland. Sky and a rival broadcaster, BSB, merged in 1990 to form BSkyB. The first digital television service was introduced by Sky in 1998. It featured over 140 channels. The chairman of the company is James Murdoch. He was appointed to that position in 2007. The chief executive officer and executive director is Jeremy Darroch. The Sky products and services are numerous. There is Sky TV, Sky+ and Sky+ HD, Sky Broadband, Sky Talk, Sky 3D, Sky Anytime and Anytime+, Sky Player, mobile services, Sky Multiroom and Freesat from Sky. Its lineup of wholly-owned channels includes Sky 1, Sky Arts, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Movies, Sky News, Sky Sports and Challenge. It is also a shareholder in such channels as The History Channel, The Biography Channel, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, National Geographic Channel and Attheraces. Its other businesses, besides the residential subscription services, are Sky Business, Sky Media, Sky Betting and Gaming, 365 Media Group and Amstrad (Allan 2006).

Business Description

British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB or the group) operate the leading pay television service in the UK and Ireland as well as broadband and telephony services. The group commission and acquires programming to broadcast on its own channels and supply certain of those channels to cable and other operators for retransmission to their subscribers in the UK and Ireland. BSkyB retails channels (both its own and third parties') to DTH, Sky Player and Sky Mobile TV customers and certain of its own channels to DSL and iPad subscribers.

Competitors of BSkyB

Channel Four Television Corporation

RTL Group S.A.

STV Group plc

British Sky Broadcasting Group

Market Share

Companies

Location

Market share

Channel Four ...