Bluewin TV continues to post heavy losses

 Swisscom's problem child Bluewin TV is still in the red despite lower installation costs. The television offering via the Internet caused a loss of CHF 7 to 8 million in the first quarter, said Swisscom CEO Carsten Schloter on Wednesday. In net terms, Bluewin TV gained 5,000 new customers in the first quarter and had 64,000 customers at the end of March. This is fewer than at the end of last year, when Swisscom put Bluewin TV's customer base at 70,000. However, the telecoms company now only counts those customers who already have Bluewin TV in operation and not those who have just ordered the TV service. This is why the number of customers has fallen. "According to the old definition, we would have around 81,000 customers today," said Schloter in a conference call, according to SDA. The aim is to have 110,000 to 120,000 users by the end of the year.
The installation costs for Bluewin TV have fallen to less than CHF 1,000. According to Schloter, it is still too early to say how the new Bluewin TV light will affect installation costs. The slimmed-down offering was only launched at Easter.
Swisscom wants to attract more customers to Bluewin TV with a nationwide advertising campaign. The incentive will be Euro 08, as Cash Daily reports: Anyone who registers now can receive the European Football Championships digitally.