Sky is a relatively young company with a significant and growing footprint in the UK. We provide a range of entertainment and communications services to nearly 40% of homes, we broadcast television channels that are watched by more than half the population each week, we employ thousands of people across the country and we are responsible for the jobs of tens of thousands more. We have grown rapidly since our business was established just over 20 years ago.

Along the way we have taken risks, invested billions of pounds and been a driving force for innovation and change in our sector. As a result we have transformed UK consumers’ experience of television and home communications, while generating significant returns for our shareholders and contributing positively to the UK economy as a whole.

We commissioned an independent report from Oxford Economics in order to measure and explain the scale of our economic impact. It sets out the overall contribution we make to GDP, the number of people who rely on Sky for their employment and the amount of tax revenue that we generate. It also explains how Sky’s activity supports other areas of the economy through our investment and innovation. 

Highlights include the £5.4 billion we were found to have contributed to UK GDP in 2011. And when you add our employee base of 23,000 with the wider jobs that depend upon Sky’s business, almost 120,000 jobs were found to be directly or indirectly supported by Sky. For context, this accounts for 1.2% of all employment in London and 0.6% in Scotland.

Significantly, Sky was also found to have directly contributed £941 million to the Exchequer in 2010/2011, with an impact on wider tax revenues of £2.3 billion. 

We hope that Sky’s story provides a good example of the important contribution that a successful British company can make, particularly at a time when economic growth is harder to come by. As we look ahead, our appetite to invest remains strong and we hope to contribute even more in the future.

You can find more details in the full report here.