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oxtel chief executive, Patrick Delany, has said the pay-television broadcaster has reached a record level of sports subscribers as Foxtel recovers from the losses of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thanks to the growth of Kayo, which has now reached more than 600,000 subscribers, up from 542,000 in August, and almost doubling from May after a number of users cancelled their subscriptions at the onset of the pandemic.

With a combined subscriber number of almost 2 million across Kayo, Foxtel, and Foxtel Now, the News Corp owned broadcaster has reached the highest level of subscribers in its 25-year history.

Delany said Foxtel’s move to open access to entertainment and movie packages during COVID-19 enforced lockdowns helped retain sports subscribers.

“For us at Foxtel it was an existential moment because sport is so much a part of our DNA,” Delany told the Australian Financial Review.

“Huge unemployment like we had never seen in our working lives led to quite large churn of our subscribers.

“No live sport meant that people weren’t watching our sports channels like they were before.

“Pubs and clubs were shut and that’s a very big and important part of our revenue.

“How did we cope?

“There was that terrible two and a half to three and a half months where we faced massive challenges.

“But with no sport, we had to cope in some way… we got video on-demand moving like we had never seen before.

“We had no choice at the Foxtel Group but to double down on transformation, which meant more people out, finding new ways of being more efficient, moving towards digital and, of course, focusing with our partners, the big partners in the NRL, AFL, and Supercars, to work out how we could get their seasons back on field,” he said.

“Five months later, I suppose winners are grinners and it feels fabulous,” Delany said, discussing the cancellation of sport and then the growth of Kayo since its launch in October 2018.

“We have record sport subscribers.

“Never in the history of the Foxtel Group have we had more sports subscribers.

“We had an extraordinary moment; we had a complete rebound with Kayo.

“It’s now sitting at over 600,000 paid subscribers, which makes it one hell of a sports platform, especially when you add it together with the Foxtel premium platform,” he said.