BSkyB sees profits fall

BSkyB said at its annual meeting yesterday that profits for the three months to the end of September were pounds 4.7m lower at pounds 61.6m. The fall was due to the expense of the new programming contract with the Premier League and the investment in British Interactive Broadcasting, the interactive group owned by BSkyB, BT, Matsushita Electric and Midland Bank. Sam Chisholm, chief executive and managing director, bowed out yesterday, six weeks earlier than expected. He was replaced by Mark Booth. The company also announced that it would be launching a movie pay-per-view service on its analogue system at the beginning of next month.

Murdoch to maintain newspaper price war, page 11