Broadcaster BSkyB has announced it plans to create more than 1,000 jobs after achieving its highest-ever first half operating profit.
The company, which owns Sky News, reported a 28% rise in operating profit to £597m, compared to £467m in the same period a year ago.
Revenues grew 6% over the six months to December 31 to £3.36bn.
The group plans to create 1,300 jobs across the UK and Ireland (Xetra: A0Q8L3 - news) over the next two years.
The number of subscribers to Sky's television, broadband and telephone packages rose by 100,000 over the period to 10.5 million, with more than three million customers subscribing to all three services.
BSkyB (LSE: BSY.L - news) said it also managed to retain a strong base of existing customers through its price freeze, as households faced increased pressure from higher utility bills.
Chief executive Jeremy Darroch said: "While these are tough times for many consumers, our customers are staying loyal and more households continue to join us."
Sky announced a deal with the BBC and ITV (Other OTC: ITVPF.PK - news) on Monday, allowing its customers to watch on-demand content from iPlayer and ITV Player directly on their televisions through Anytime+.
It now plans to launch a web-based pay television service aimed at new customers, and will dedicate a full channel to Formula One racing - the second biggest sport in terms of global viewers.
Meanwhile, advertising revenue at Sky fell 6% year-on-year with terrestrial networks gaining a higher share.
"Cyclically in advertising, we tend to do less well in the final quarter of the year," Mr Darroch told Sky News.
"And that is a time from an advertising point of view when the free-to-air channels tend to do a lot better.
"But we're growing our share of the advertising market - we did so in 2011, I don't see any reason why that will change in 2012."
He added that the subscription model was in fact one of the strengths of the business as it allowed the company to take a longer-term view.
"Something like Formula One for example, we'll choose not to show any adverts during the race, and that'll cost us a bit of money but we think that's the right decision in terms of customer quality and the viewing experience."
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