MUMBAI: Leading British satellite platform BSkyB has crossed its target of achieving eight million subscribers by the end of this year, 2005.

In a media statement BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch stated, Sky is achieving strong growth. Nearly one in three homes have chosen Sky and we are especially well placed to broaden Sky's appeal as entertainment and communications come together.

BSkyB, in which Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. owns 36.6 per cent, has also set a target of achieving 10 million subscribers by 2010, with 2.5 million of those taking its Sky+ personal video recorder service. The company is also aiming to have at least 3 million subscribers using its multiroom service, which allows more than one TV set in a home to be hooked up to Sky's services.

Launched in 1999, the company provides free to air channels as well as pay TV channels. Murdoch noted that the company provides access to a number of free to air channels on the Freeview service as a way of promoting the pay-TV services available through its satellite service.