Big drop in Sky subscribers

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#1567478 7-Jun-2016 21:19

surely some must have other family members, friends or workmates that you can piggy back your sky account with, it brings the cost down heaps if you have 1 account with multiroom shared over different households.

quickymart

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#1567508 7-Jun-2016 21:41

I remember the mid-1990's when Sky was UHF only. Funnily enough back then I thought Sky Movies was pretty good (the "no ads during a movie" thing was a huge selling point for them).

From memory there was Sky Movies (called HBO for a time), Sky Sport, Sky News (mostly CNN), Orange (which I also thought was pretty cool) and Discovery. I think all those channels cost around $54 a month - but where else could you go back in those days?

JimmyH

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#1567547 7-Jun-2016 23:27

debeeriz:

surely some must have other family members, friends or workmates that you can piggy back your sky account with, it brings the cost down heaps if you have 1 account with multiroom shared over different households.

In other words, your advice is to commit fraud.

Honestly, if someone likes the service, they should pay for it. If they don't like the service, they shouldn't pay for it. But your solution, in addition to being dishonest, exposes them to the very real risk of prosecution if they are caught.

Jaxson

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#1567625 8-Jun-2016 08:01

Jaxson:
tdgeek: are exclusive rights a monopoly?

Yep.

Actually I'd like to rephrase that. It's not fair to call the successful bidder a monopoly, just because they won.

I think the issue is that for a long time, Sky was the only viable player in town, which then led to them being successful all the time. It got to the point where no other player could take on the goliath. That's where the monopoly situation came from.

Now we are finally seeing some competition in this market place. If you are with Sky solely for their movies or TV offerings, then there are now other players available.

The same cannot be said for sports coverage, where Sky remains your only real option in NZ.

Now I realise that we may be worse off if content is spread across multiple providers, but the reality is that right now it's Sky or nothing for sports, and what keeps their pricing in check? What creates any alternative competition in that market sector?

ockel

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#1567627 8-Jun-2016 08:05

Jaxson:

Jaxson:
tdgeek: are exclusive rights a monopoly?

Yep.

Actually I'd like to rephrase that. It's not fair to call the successful bidder a monopoly, just because they won.

I think the issue is that for a long time, Sky was the only viable player in town, which then led to them being successful all the time. It got to the point where no other player could take on the goliath. That's where the monopoly situation came from.

Now we are finally seeing some competition in this market place. If you are with Sky solely for their movies or TV offerings, then there are now other players available.

The same cannot be said for sports coverage, where Sky remains your only real option in NZ.

Now I realise that we may be worse off if content is spread across multiple providers, but the reality is that right now it's Sky or nothing for sports, and what keeps their pricing in check? What creates any alternative competition in that market sector?

Their pricing is kept in check by other players that buy sports rights and offer them in the market. There are examples of this over the last few years. So there has not been and is not a monopoly. There are no exclusions for other players to bid for and offer sports in the NZ market. Whether those players can make a profit remains to be seen. But similarly whether the general entertainment offerings can be profitable also remains to be seen - they are in the same boat, albeit with deeper pockets. There is nothing to stop Lightbox from acquiring and offering sport - oh, wait.... they did that! I think thats what you call alternative competition in that market sector.

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Fred99

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#1567765 8-Jun-2016 11:01

Hmmmm...

Sky TV in trading halt - pending an announcement to NZSE.

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Jaxson

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#1567783 8-Jun-2016 11:16

ockel:

Their pricing is kept in check by other players that buy sports rights and offer them in the market. There are examples of this over the last few years. So there has not been and is not a monopoly. There are no exclusions for other players to bid for and offer sports in the NZ market. Whether those players can make a profit remains to be seen. But similarly whether the general entertainment offerings can be profitable also remains to be seen - they are in the same boat, albeit with deeper pockets. There is nothing to stop Lightbox from acquiring and offering sport - oh, wait.... they did that! I think thats what you call alternative competition in that market sector.

This has only happened recently because broadband/fibre has opened an alternative comms path.

The reality remains though, that you've ended up with a giant in the arena, preventing other startups from being able to compete. That's good business on Sky's part, but it has meant that there have been literally no alternative options for customers to purchase their sporting provider from. As above, this is changing now that an alternative distribution method has been implemented, but still doesn't escape the situation of Sky NZ winning all the local rights in NZ, bar some minority sports that one or two providers have now successfully won.

It's changing now, which is good to see, but Sky had it very easy for a very long time. I'm not knocking them for being successful, but I do think they were allowed to roam free and unchallenged over the last 20 years or so.

rhysee

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#1567802 8-Jun-2016 11:30

Any clues/ guesses whats on the horizon for the news ?

NZX said trading in the shares of television operator Sky Network TV had been put on hold pending an announcement from the company.

Earlier this week, TV chief executive John Fellet downplayed speculation of a Sky TV and Vodafone New Zealand merger, saying the telco was "too big" for his company.

Sky TV has brought in Citibank to consider options for the company's surplus funds - estimated by analysts to be as much as $400 million as its capital spending programme winds down.

The company's period of heavy investment over recent years in new technology, set-top box upgrades, new content and enhancing sales and marketing will end in about six months, bolstering its cash flow.

There has been speculation for several months that Vodafone is looking to sell its New Zealand operations, with Sky TV tipped as a possible option. But Fellet said he didn't know what Vodafone's plans were and wouldn't comment on market speculation.

Sky TV shares last traded at $4.47, having dropped by $1.40 or 23.8 per cent over the last 12 months.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11652781

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wellygary

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#1567835 8-Jun-2016 11:38

Some form of merger is being discussed

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/80839956/trading-halt-on-sky-television

"Following recent media speculation, SKY confirms that it is in discussions with Vodafone Group Plc (“Vodafone”) regarding a potential transaction involving a combination of the businesses of SKY and Vodafone New Zealand. The discussions are ongoing and incomplete and may not result in a transaction occurring. "

https://www.nzx.com/companies/SKT/announcements/283667

dejadeadnz

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#1567853 8-Jun-2016 11:49

If it's Sky buying VF's NZ operations (should the deal come to fruition), VF and/or Sky customers may still be able to harbour some hope of a semi-smooth transition, especially if there is a degree of management shakeup. But if it is the other way around (unlikely given long-held rumours of VF PLC looking to exit NZ), in light of VFNZ's outstanding record (chortles - just kidding) at integrating systems of the likes of Telstra etc, boy it doesn't bear thinking about.

jarledb

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#1567945 8-Jun-2016 14:36

dejadeadnz: If it's Sky buying VF's NZ operations (should the deal come to fruition), VF and/or Sky customers may still be able to harbour some hope of a semi-smooth transition, especially if there is a degree of management shakeup. But if it is the other way around (unlikely given long-held rumours of VF PLC looking to exit NZ), in light of VFNZ's outstanding record (chortles - just kidding) at integrating systems of the likes of Telstra etc, boy it doesn't bear thinking about.

You think a Vodafone run by the very "forward thinking" management of Sky would be a hoot? Don't think either combination would bode well for the customers...

Mind you, I will just sit back and eat my popcorn if it happens, not a customer of either company anymore.

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dejadeadnz

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#1567958 8-Jun-2016 15:03

jarledb:
You think a Vodafone run by the very "forward thinking" management of Sky would be a hoot? Don't think either combination would bode well for the customers...

Mind you, I will just sit back and eat my popcorn if it happens, not a customer of either company anymore.

You sure have inserted quite a lot of words into my mouth. All that I am saying is that VF management's track record at integration is abysmal and they have zero hope in hell of doing a good job of integrating with Sky given its history. However if it is Sky buying VF, I do surprisingly enough have a degree of willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt in terms of customer service. Let's face it, it's hard to see how anyone can do worse than VF's usual help desk issues, for example. That is because whatever one's view of Sky's product offerings, I have experienced nothing but stellar customer service from them.

I have never expressed a view on whether Sky's management is forward thinking.

michaelmurfy

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#1567974 8-Jun-2016 15:14

Hmm, another company for Vodafone to ruin?

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jarledb

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#1568008 8-Jun-2016 15:50

dejadeadnz:
jarledb:

You think a Vodafone run by the very "forward thinking" management of Sky would be a hoot? Don't think either combination would bode well for the customers...

Mind you, I will just sit back and eat my popcorn if it happens, not a customer of either company anymore.

You sure have inserted quite a lot of words into my mouth.

Really?! Do you mind pointing out exactly where I put words in your mouth?

All that I am saying is that VF management's track record at integration is abysmal and they have zero hope in hell of doing a good job of integrating with Sky given its history.

It could be argued that they might have learned something from past failures, but I don't really care wether thats true or not. Not going to be my problem.

However if it is Sky buying VF, I do surprisingly enough have a degree of willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt in terms of customer service.

Just because Sky TV might have a working customer service, does not mean that they would be able to change and or create a new customer service for Vodafone that would be significantly different from the one they have today.

quickymart

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#1568075 8-Jun-2016 16:52

It would be good if they did though, God knows Vodafone's outsourced customer help line sure ain't helping customers right now.

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