Sky's spend on football and drama bears fruit as UK customer growth hits 11-year high

Football and drama are proving a winning formula for Sky as the satellite broadcaster said it had gained 124,000 UK customers in the past three months.

Sky paid £4.2 billion for Premier League rights this year - the lion’s share of programming costs - but the firm also has 35 productions in the pipeline in the next three years, following successes such as the Enfield Haunting starring Timothy Spall.

Jude Law will star in the forthcoming joint Sky-HBO production of the Young Pope.

In the UK, Sky now has more than 12 million customers after the best growth for 11 years.

The share of Sky customers leaving is also at its lowest for more than a decade.

For the year to June 30 operating profits up 18% at £1.4 billion beat City hopes, lifting shares 27p to 1151p.

Boss Jeremy Darroch added: “We carry good momentum into the new year.”

Sky shares were last up 0.9% at 1135p.