British Sky Broadcasting Group plc Annual Report 2008 British Sky Broadcasting Group plc British Sky Broadcasting Group plc Grant Way, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 5QD, England Telephone 0870 240 3000 Facsimile 0870 240 3060 www.sky.com Registered in England No.2247735 Charity partner Annual Report 2008 Table of contents ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Chairman’s statement 2 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Directors’ report – review of the business Chief Executive Officer’s statement 3 The business, its objectives and its strategy 5 Corporate responsibility 18 People 18 Risk factors 19 Government regulation 21 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Directors’ report – financial review Introduction 29 Financial and operating review 30 Property 38 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Directors’ report – governance Board of Directors and senior management 39 Corporate governance report 41 Report on Directors’ remuneration 46 Other statutory information 54 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Consolidated financial statements Statement of Directors’ responsibility 55 Auditors’ report 56 Consolidated financial statements 57 Group financial record 110 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Shareholder information 112 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Glossary of terms 120 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Form 20-F cross reference guide 122 .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. This constitutes the Annual Report of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (the and the risks associated with our operation of digital television transmission in the ‘‘Company’’) in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (‘‘IFRS’’) United Kingdom (‘‘UK’’) and Republic of Ireland (‘‘Ireland’’). and with those parts of the Companies Act 1985 applicable to companies reporting under IFRS and is dated 30 July 2008. This document also contains information set out Information on the significant risks and uncertainties associated with our business is within the Company’s Annual Report to be filed on Form 20-F in accordance with the described in ‘‘Directors’ report — review of the business — Risk factors’’ in this requirements of the United States (‘‘US’’) Securities and Exchange Commission (the document. All forward looking statements in this document are based on information ‘‘SEC’’). However, this information may be updated or supplemented at the time of known to us on the date hereof. Except as required by law, we undertake no filing of that document with the SEC or later amended if necessary. obligation publicly to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward looking statements This document contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to our financial condition, results of operations and business, and our strategy, plans and objectives. These statements include, without limitation, those that express forecasts, expectations and projections, such as forecasts, expectations and projections with respect to the potential for growth of free-to-air and pay television, fixed line telephony and Direct- to-Home (‘‘DTH’’) subscribers, broadband and bandwidth requirements, advertising growth, Multiroom, Sky+ and other services penetration, churn, DTH and other revenue, profitability and margins, cash flow generation, programming costs, subscriber management costs, administration costs and other costs, marketing expenditure, capital expenditure programmes and proposals for returning capital to shareholders. These statements (and all other forward-looking statements contained in this document) are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied or forecast in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the fact that we operate in a highly competitive environment, the effects of laws and government regulation upon our activities, our reliance on technology, which is subject to risk, change and development, failure of key suppliers, our ability to continue to obtain exclusive rights to movies, sports events and other programming content, risks inherent in the implementation of large-scale capital expenditure projects, our ability to continue to communicate and market our services effectively, ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................