Price hikes for Sky's Sky Sports customers will kick off in September, with a new Premier League contract representing improved investment in Sky Sports, the broadcaster said.
BSkyB was told by Ofcom, the communications watchdog, that it had to sell its premium sports content to rivals at regulated prices after concerns it was dominating the market.
But the price hike will hit wholesale customers, such as broadband, home phone and digital TV providerBT, with higher charges. In a bid to land a strong position in the pay-TV market, BT said it was reducing the cost of watching Premier League football to £6.99. But now the BSkyB increase could result in huge losses for BT Vision, which is offering Sky Sports 1 and 2 in its package for customers.
BSkyB insists the rising costs will be value for money, with more investment being pumped into its sports programmes - particularly with Premier League coverage - and into its comedy and US content.
In the final quarter Sky said it added 119,000 broadband customers, 137,000 telephony customers and 214,000 for line rental. The data comes as BSkyB announced its operating profits rose 10% after it added 90,000 more customers during the final three months of its financial year.
Want Sky Sports in time for the new Premier League Season?
Easy! Compare digital TV deals with Simplifydigital. Either give one of our resident experts a call on 0800 083 0265 or click here to compare TV deals online.