BT’s telly gain is big turn off

Firm adds fewer viewers as profits slip

PROFITS at BT have slipped as it counted the cost of TV sports rights and trying to improve customer service.

The industry giant also blamed tough trading in its Global Services division, which provides telecoms for big businesses.

BT made £666million profit in the three months to the end of September, down 1%.

Revenue in its BT Consumer arm rose 1% to £1.26billion, and its EE mobile phone arm enjoyed a 4% gain to more than £1.3bn.

But in Global Services, which has been rocked by an accounting scandal in Italy, they dropped 10%.

Boss Gavin Patterson called the results “encouraging”. But the firm admitted it added only 7,000 TV customers in the three months, a big drop from the 63,000 of a year ago. Patterson claimed the fall was partly due to switching from an old TV platform to the YouView system which is a joint venture with major broadcasters including BBC and ITV. Meanwhile the group confirmed it was expecting to consult with employees over changes to its company pension scheme but said this was still under review. New BT chairman Jan du Plessi s gave Patterson his public backing yesterday, telling staff: “I look forward to working with Gavin and his management team.”