Scotland nets 200 jobs as Sky expands broadband and HDTV services

Published on Sunday 22 October 2006 00:44

BSKYB, the satellite broadcaster, is to recruit 200 accountants and administrative staff in West Lothian as it cranks up its high definition TV and broadband businesses.

The group, 39% owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, will this week reveal plans to expand its shared service centre in Livingston.

An industry source said the expansion would create a large number of high-value head-quarters jobs and support the group's move into new product areas. "It's accountants, that kind of thing. We are not talking about call centre operators on the minimum wage here," the source said.

Sky has been expanding rapidly in Scotland. Earlier this year it announced plans to take on 350 staff at a new call centre in Uddingston, near Glasgow, and 250 technicians at its Dunfermline base. It employs 3,000 staff in Livingston out of a Scottish workforce of 6,000.

BSkyB's chief executive, James Murdoch, has identified Glasgow as one of the key battlegrounds in the fight to win broadband customers from rival providers such as BT.

The firm is expected to get a Regional Selective Assistance grant from the Scottish Executive for its latest expansion.

Sky has been reaching beyond its traditional core market of satellite and cable TV. This year, it launched its high definition TV service and announced that it would provide broadband telephone services.

In July, the company said its HDTV boxes were selling faster than its Sky Plus boxes had when they were launched. The number of households with Sky Plus itself had risen by 75% to 1.55 million in the year to June.

The company did not issue numbers for its broadband offering, launched in July, but James Murdoch said that he was happy with the market's response.

The company reported a 1% rise in pre-tax profit for the year, to 798m, despite higher interest charges following its 211m acquisition of the Easynet broadband network.

Rumours this month suggested that Murdoch junior was preparing a management buyout bid. The company has also been seen as a potential takeover target, although the involvement of News Corp would make such an approach difficult without support from Murdoch's father.

James Murdoch received a 2.6m pay package in the year to June, up 30% on the year before. The package included a 1.6m bonus.