Germany's Premiere To Relaunch As Sky Deutschland

Also Thursday, Premiere said its net loss widened to euro80 million in the first quarter from euro28.1 million a year earlier.

Revenues edged up to euro232.7 million from euro231 million, but operating expenses increased to euro262.5 million from euro228.1 million.

Premiere said it had just over 2.37 million direct subscribers at the end of March, 28,000 fewer than at the end of last year.

The results "are in line with our expectations," Williams said. "We expect subscriber growth to commence only in the second half of this year following our comprehensive sales, marketing and customer service initiatives."

Premiere said it was sticking to its outlook for 2009 and beyond, which includes a "significant" pretax loss this year and targets a net profit starting in 2011.

Premiere shares closed up nearly 6 percent at euro1.78 in Frankfurt.