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Other revenues declined 10%, of which $4 million, or 4%, was related to the negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations. The decline was primarily due to lower brand partnership revenues and the absence of revenues from Sun Bets as a result of News UK’s exit from the partnership in the first quarter of fiscal 2019.
Segment EBITDA decreased $21 million in the quarter, or 15%, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to lower contribution from News UK, mainly driven by lower revenues and higher newsprint and digital reinvestment costs. The decline was partially offset by higher contribution from News Corp Australia and Dow Jones. Adjusted Segment EBITDA (as defined in Note 1) decreased 13%.
Digital revenues represented 32% of News and Information Services segment revenues in the quarter, compared to 29% in the prior year. For the quarter, digital revenues for Dow Jones and the newspaper mastheads represented 35% of their combined revenues, and at Dow Jones, digital accounted for 55% of its circulation revenues. Digital subscribers and users across key properties within the News and Information Services segment are summarized below:
| • | | The Wall Street Journal average daily digital subscribers in the three months ended December 31, 2018 were 1,709,000, compared to 1,389,000 in the prior year (Source: Internal data) |
| • | | Closing digital subscribers at News Corp Australia’s mastheads as of December 31, 2018 were 460,300, compared to 389,600 in the prior year (Source: Internal data) |
| • | | The Times andSunday Times closing digital subscribers as of December 31, 2018 were 269,000, compared to 220,000 in the prior year (Source: Internal data) |
| • | | The Sun’s digital offering reached approximately 80 million global monthly unique users in December 2018, compared to 86 million in the prior year, based on ABCe (Source: Omniture) |
Subscription Video Services
Revenues and Segment EBITDA in the quarter increased $442 million and $51 million, respectively, compared to the prior year, primarily due to the inclusion of Foxtel. Adjusted Revenues and Adjusted Segment EBITDA, which exclude the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, acquisitions and divestitures, increased 8% and declined 3%, respectively.
On a pro forma basis, reflecting the Transaction, segment revenues in the quarter decreased $69 million, or 11%, compared with the prior year, of which $39 million, or 6%, was due to the negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations. The remainder of the revenue decline was driven by the impact from lower broadcast subscribers and the changes in the subscriber package mix, partially offset by higher revenues from Foxtel Now.
As of December 31, 2018, new Foxtel’s total closing subscribers were approximately 2.9 million, which was higher than the prior year, primarily due to Foxtel Now subscriber growth, the inclusion of commercial subscribers of FOX SPORTS Australia beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and the launch of Kayo Sports, partially offset by lower broadcast subscribers. 2.5 million of the total closing subscribers were broadcast and commercial subscribers, and the remainder consisted of Foxtel Now and Kayo Sports subscribers. As of February 5, 2019, there were 115,000 Kayo Sports subscribers, of which approximately 100,000 were paying subscribers. Broadcast subscriber churn in the quarter was 15.6% compared to 14.5% in the prior year, reflecting the impact of the price increase implemented in October. Broadcast ARPU for the quarter declined 3% compared to the prior year to A$78 (US$56), reflecting a 2% negative impact related to the adoption of the new revenue recognition standard.
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