The pay-TV company said revenue increased 11% to £5.9bn in the 12 months to 30 June. Operating profit rose to £1.9bn from £813m last year.

The increases were driven by net customer growth of 90,000, taking the companyto 9.86m subscribers. Churn, the percentage of customers who dropped the service, was just 10.5%.

According to BSkyB, one in five of its customers now bundle TV, telephone and broadband services, an annual increase of 36%. However, it still sees “good headroom to grow further”, with 7.8m customers yet to take all three services. It currently has 2.62m broadband customers.

Sky’s marketing strategy to push its high-definition TV services also appears to be paying off, with 429,000 new viewers in the final quarter of the year.

Marketing costs reached £1.1bn last year, up from £907m in the same period a year earlier. BSkyB said the increase reflects the “volumes of HD additions doubling and our policy of expensing customer acquisition costs upfront”. It now costs the company £339 to acquire a customer.

CEO Jeremy Darroch said the year was a good one for the company. “The economic outlook remains uncertain and, against that backdrop, we’ll pursue the consistent set of priorities that have served us well so far. Executing these plans will build a larger, more profitable business for the long term,” he said.

The company announced it had struck a deal with HBO to show the US cable channel’s programmes in the UK. Previous HBO shows include The Wire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos and Sex and the City.

BSkyB restated that later this year it will launch its full video-on-demand service, Anytime+, which will give customers access to content from Sky channels, third-party broadcasters and more than 500 movies on demand.

Rival Virgin Media recently reported its revenue increased 7% to £964m in the second quarter (nma 28 July 2010).

This article first appeared on marketingweek.co.uk