Swisscom TV projects post high losses
Betty TV and Bluewin TV posted a loss of 104 million Swiss francs in the past half-year. While Bluewin TV’s strategy remains unchanged, Swisscom needs to consider a new direction for Betty, said Swisscom CEO Carsten Schloter during a conference call on Wednesday.
Swisscom could actually be proud of its recently published half-year figures, as all the curves are pointing upwards: Revenue rose by 6.7 percent year-on-year to CHF 5.09 billion, mainly due to the acquisition of the Italian broadband Internet provider Fastweb. And net profit increased by 23.5 percent to CHF 936 million, with the proceeds from the sale of a block of shares in Swisscom Mobile accounting for a large part of this. All would be well, were it not for Swisscom's TV projects: Bluewin TV and the interactive remote control Betty caused a loss of CHF 104 million in the first half of the year; the Betty remote control alone, which allows subscribers to take part in competitions, surveys and votes, posted a loss of CHF 60 million. As Swisscom CEO Carsten Schloter said in a telephone conference on Wednesday, 300,000 remote controls have been pre-produced for Betty since its launch in June 2006, but only 10,000 customers in Switzerland and 100,000 in Germany have been won. This is disappointing.
Since its launch in November 2006, Bluewin TV has been struggling with technical problems and excessively high connection costs; television via the telephone line incurs installation costs of around CHF 1,300 per connection; although these costs are falling slightly, the target of CHF 500 once set by Schloter is still a long way off. On the other hand, there is solid customer growth: Swisscom is gaining around 5000 customers per month, with a total of 50,000 at the end of June and an expected 80,000 by the end of the year.
If the installation of Bluewin TV remains so expensive, Swisscom will have spent around CHF 110 million by the end of the year, according to SDA calculations, but will only have earned CHF 30 million. However, Swisscom CEO Schloter hopes that the technology of the Italian broadband provider Fastweb, which was purchased in May, will provide a remedy by bypassing the house wiring. This should enable connection costs to be reduced to 700 francs per customer.
While Bluewin TV will continue to be pursued as before, Swisscom must, as Carsten Schloter said, think about the reorientation of Betty. However, it is too early to say anything more specific. Betty employs 30 people in Switzerland and 100 in Munich.
Since its launch in November 2006, Bluewin TV has been struggling with technical problems and excessively high connection costs; television via the telephone line incurs installation costs of around CHF 1,300 per connection; although these costs are falling slightly, the target of CHF 500 once set by Schloter is still a long way off. On the other hand, there is solid customer growth: Swisscom is gaining around 5000 customers per month, with a total of 50,000 at the end of June and an expected 80,000 by the end of the year.
If the installation of Bluewin TV remains so expensive, Swisscom will have spent around CHF 110 million by the end of the year, according to SDA calculations, but will only have earned CHF 30 million. However, Swisscom CEO Schloter hopes that the technology of the Italian broadband provider Fastweb, which was purchased in May, will provide a remedy by bypassing the house wiring. This should enable connection costs to be reduced to 700 francs per customer.
While Bluewin TV will continue to be pursued as before, Swisscom must, as Carsten Schloter said, think about the reorientation of Betty. However, it is too early to say anything more specific. Betty employs 30 people in Switzerland and 100 in Munich.
