This is expected to include between 60 and 100 channels dedicated to "near video-on-demand" - the rolling broadcast of several Hollywood films, whereby viewers are never more than 20 minutes away from the start of a chosen movie.BSkyB is also talking to other broadcasters, including Virgin Communications, Richard Branson's media development arm, which has tentative plans to launch a pay-TV channel.The deal with Sky marks the first time Luxembourg-based SES, which operates Astra, has used a cost-sharing approach."This certainly gives BSkyB a guaranteed presence on the Astra digital system," said one analyst. As well, it has reached revenue-sharing deals with many programme suppliers to reduce fixed costs for pay-per-view services.BSkyB's chief executive, Sam Chisholm, has said the company would offer as many as 200 digital channels once the new service is available. That savings will provide the flexibility either to accelerate or to slow down plans to introduce digital services, depending on market demand and the actions of competitors.The satellite deal is part of a wide-ranging plan at Sky to minimise the high costs of the switch to digital. The company has already moved to reduce the costs to consumers of digital set-top boxes, to encourage wider takeup. The innovative arrangement gives BSkyB 14 transponders on the new digital satellite, enough to carry 150 channels, at a fraction of the usual rental cost. The leased capacity is earmarked for the transmission of digital television services from 1997. But the company will have to make an upfront payment that could reach pounds 85m, according to industry experts.The construction, launch and insurance costs of the digital satellite are estimated at about $250m (pounds 170m). BSkyB makes annual payments of about pounds 30m for its current satellite transponders, which are used to broadcast channels such as Sky One and Sky News.By becoming an "anchor" tenant on the new satellite, BSkyB has reduced rental costs by as much as 50 per cent.

Earnings per share rose 23 per cent to 43.1p.The dividend cover has dropped from 1.72p to 1.54p, reflecting MAM's cash-rich state. Mr Stevenson said: "If you have a lot of cash in your balance sheet one of the things you can do is bring down your dividend cover."There has been speculation in the City about whether MAM will forge a link with a bigger group. Mr Stevenson said: "The important thing for us was to show to the rest of the world that MAM was an independent company that was quite capable of doing well for customers and shareholders." MAM shares rose 38p to 956p.The operating cost of running MAM rose nearly pounds 18m, partly because of higher provisions for staff bonuses linked to the rising profits.But this increase in costs is partly because of the consolidation of an Australian subsidiary in which MAM bought the 50 per cent it did not already own, and the company gave no indication of the scale of the bonuses.Funds under management increased 27.6 per cent to pounds 81bn, of which pounds 3.3bn was net new funds, pounds 1.5bn the inclusion of the Australian funds and the rest the increase in the value of funds under management as markets have risen.. BSkyB, the pay-TV giant, is to meet up to half the costs of launching a new Astra satellite in return for sharply lower rental fees in the future, the Independent has learned. After a sharp slowdown in the rate at which it acquired new business in the first half of the year to pounds 800m, the fund management group acquired pounds 2.5bn of net new business in the second half, taking its total to pounds 81bn. The first-half slowdown was widely seen in the City as due to the disruption caused by MAM's separation from Warburg after the merchant bank was taken over by Swiss Bank Corporation.Hugh Stevenson, chairman of MAM, said: "I hope these results show that we are very capable of standing on our own."The City was delighted both by the profits, which were above the top of the forecast range, and by an even sharper rise in the dividend for the full year, which was up from 26p to 35p a share, an increase of 34.6 per cent.This excludes a special 40p dividend last August as part of the separation from Warburg.