Sky Network Television chief executive John Fellet says he gives the company's latest annual result a B- report card.
That's because subscriber numbers increased by only 9000 in the 12 months to the end of June.
The previous year it added more than 17,500 subscribers and the year before that it added more than 27,000.
Despite the sluggish subscriber growth, Sky lifted annual net profit 11% to $132.2 million from $122.8 million the previous year.
Mr Fellet says in the short-term the business makes a greater profit when subscriptions are flat, although he still wants to lift top-line growth.
He says for the vast majority of New Zealanders the traditional pay TV package of things like movies and sports works well.
But Mr Fellet says other people want a no-frills package so Igloo works for them, while others only want to watch programmes on their iPads.
He says it's difficult to compare from year to year but the first six weeks of this financial year do not look as strong for Sky as the first six weeks of last year.