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		</div><p>Pay TV giant Sky shrugged off the increasing threat from rival BT as it notched up its best first quarter UK customer growth for four years.</p>
<p>The group said it added 77,000 customers in the three months to the end of September across the UK and Ireland, up 50% on a year earlier, while profits in the region leapt by a fifth to £358m (€486.42m), helped by cost cutting.</p>
<p>Sky, which serves more than 20m customers group-wide following the acquisition of businesses in Italy and Germany, hailed a “strong start to the year” as it posted a better-than-expected 10% leap in overall group earnings to £375m (€509.51m).</p>
<p>It comes despite the launch of BT’s Champions League coverage, with the group seeking to lure customers away from Sky.</p>
<p>Sky said: “In what was expected to be a tough trading period, our investments in world class content and innovation delivered a good quarter of financial and operational growth.”</p>
<p>Its rate of churn – which measures the number of customers quitting the group &#8211; fell to 9.8% in the UK, down from 10.9% a year earlier, marking the lowest first quarter level for 11 years.</p>
<p>The group said broadband was its star performer, with a 77% surge in new customers, up 133,000 on a year earlier.</p>
<p>Popular television series such as True Detective, as well as box set offerings including Sons Of Anarchy, Entourage and True Blood, helped viewing figures rise 70% year-on-year for Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland.</p>
<p>Sky Sports viewing rose 3%, it added.</p>
<p>Group performance was driven by the UK, while earnings were held flat in Germany and Austria and tumbled by 24% in Italy.</p>
<p>Sky struck a deal last November to buy Sky Italia and a majority interest in Sky Deutschland, which saw it change its name from BSkyB to Sky.</p>
<p>Shares in the group rose more than 2%.</p>
<p>Analysts at Numis Securities said the results were “encouraging”.</p>
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