SKY disclosure regarding status of Rugby World Cup 2019 bid

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# 1985021 28-Mar-2018 15:55

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tdgeek:

The majority of Sky subscribers are not affected. While rugby is very popular, it is a minority sport. Its not like 75% of everybody is into rugby.

I totally disagree. Sky is rugby. I think it is rugby that keeps a significant number of Sky subscribers paying each month. Most of the people I know say they would like to ditch Sky, but would miss the rugby.

Neither of us know of course, time will tell. But I think history will show this to be the defining moment of Sky's demise.

(And, now I am well and truly over and out with this thread).

trig42

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# 1985023 28-Mar-2018 15:59

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dafman:

tdgeek:

The majority of Sky subscribers are not affected. While rugby is very popular, it is a minority sport. Its not like 75% of everybody is into rugby.

I totally disagree. Sky is rugby. I think it is rugby that keeps a significant number of Sky subscribers paying each month. Most of the people I know say they would like to ditch Sky, but would miss the rugby.

Neither of us know of course, time will tell. But I think history will show this to be the defining moment of Sky's demise.

(And, now I am well and truly over and out with this thread).

Agreed with that.

The only reason I got Sky last time (just cancelled it after the year on the special deal) was Rugby (and the America's Cup, but that was a bonus).

JPNZ

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# 1985025 28-Mar-2018 16:02

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vexxxboy:

whereas the latter is a dinosaur with historic indifference to customer service as it grew fat on monopoly rights.

you just described what Spark used to be like and anyone who had to deal with them will know what they were like in the Telecom days. They were very much like Sky are now and it took Clear to start their change to what they are today , pretty much what Sky is going through at the moment with the competition with Netflix etc.

Brilliant post... As I was reading dafman's post and after I stopped laughing when he said of Spark "the former is a company that is used to innovation and customer service" hahaha. Telecom was an archaic dinosaur and spark still has some issues in this current age. Obviously didn't know much of telecommunication history in NZ. Sky reminds me a lot of where telecom was before it became spark, changing due to competition will be interesting

mattwnz

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# 1985026 28-Mar-2018 16:03

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tdgeek:

Those that are non IT literate may struggle to get LB to their TV in a WAF way. Maybe some cost there too.

Maybe it will make more manufacturers want to build Lightbox into their smart TVs, which will make it far more accessible. Otherwise an apple tv will make it easy for people. It is a real win for Lightbox / Spark, and even TVNZ I think, if they do win the rights. But then again it is just a single event, and not rugby as a whole. But in NZ, the rugby World cup is one of the biggest events of the sporting calendar.

The possibility of 4k broadcasting over fibre for the world cup could also be a game changer. Maybe that will be an upsell.

mattwnz

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# 1985027 28-Mar-2018 16:04

JPNZ:

Sky reminds me a lot of where telecom was before it became spark, changing due to competition will be interesting

Shows how a company can turn things around in a relatively short period, and I guess renaming and rebranding has helped with that.

ockel

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# 1985034 28-Mar-2018 16:10

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mattwnz:

I think this is great news for consumers. At least it shows competition in action, and IMO is the first real game changer. The writing has been on the wall for a while that something like this could happen. I wonder if it had anything to do with the CEO resigning just a few days before?
Hopefully there will be more FTA games and more live ones on FTA. Hopefully will also lead to cheaper paid coverage. I just hope it won't lead to pay per game at high prices, and tiered prices based on what the game is, and instead a flat rate.

Yep. Competition from the company that complained vociferously about the Sky-Vodafone merger in that Sky was too dominant in sport and merging with Vodafone would make it more dominant (sic). And yet the ability to freely bid for content (as seen here) has always been available.

Still, you cant beat self-interest and if you can fool the regulator enough then you'll get the outcome you want. I wonder if the same company will oppose any new owner of Vocus on the grounds it will concentrate the market? Cant have stronger competitors cant we?

JPNZ

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# 1985035 28-Mar-2018 16:11

mattwnz:

JPNZ:

Sky reminds me a lot of where telecom was before it became spark, changing due to competition will be interesting

Shows how a company can turn things around in a relatively short period, and I guess renaming and rebranding has helped with that.

Absolutely! Lets not forget with over 824,000 subscribers they are by far and away the dominant sport broadcaster in NZ

ockel

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# 1985038 28-Mar-2018 16:12

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JPNZ:

vexxxboy:

whereas the latter is a dinosaur with historic indifference to customer service as it grew fat on monopoly rights.

you just described what Spark used to be like and anyone who had to deal with them will know what they were like in the Telecom days. They were very much like Sky are now and it took Clear to start their change to what they are today , pretty much what Sky is going through at the moment with the competition with Netflix etc.

Brilliant post... As I was reading dafman's post and after I stopped laughing when he said of Spark "the former is a company that is used to innovation and customer service" hahaha. Telecom was an archaic dinosaur and spark still has some issues in this current age. Obviously didn't know much of telecommunication history in NZ. Sky reminds me a lot of where telecom was before it became spark, changing due to competition will be interesting

You kinda get used to that with dafman, dont you? Is it naivety or ignorance or ????

gehenna

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# 1985052 28-Mar-2018 16:54

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@ockel criticise the idea, not the person.

dafman

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# 1985053 28-Mar-2018 17:01

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ockel:

JPNZ:

vexxxboy:

whereas the latter is a dinosaur with historic indifference to customer service as it grew fat on monopoly rights.

you just described what Spark used to be like and anyone who had to deal with them will know what they were like in the Telecom days. They were very much like Sky are now and it took Clear to start their change to what they are today , pretty much what Sky is going through at the moment with the competition with Netflix etc.

Brilliant post... As I was reading dafman's post and after I stopped laughing when he said of Spark "the former is a company that is used to innovation and customer service" hahaha. Telecom was an archaic dinosaur and spark still has some issues in this current age. Obviously didn't know much of telecommunication history in NZ. Sky reminds me a lot of where telecom was before it became spark, changing due to competition will be interesting

You kinda get used to that with dafman, dont you? Is it naivety or ignorance or ????

(emits long sigh).

I was referring to the Spark of today, not the Telecom of old. They are different and no more comparable than, say, Air New Zealand is to NAC, or Genesis Energy is to NZED.

Maybe one day I will be able to say that [insert name of future company that evolves from the ashes of Sky] is a totally different company to the Sky of old. The thing is, I don't think for a moment that Sky has any hope of successfully pulling out of its nose dive. Too little, too late. Then again, I could be totally wrong, time will tell.

(and, third time lucky, I am most definitely over and out for this thread).

waikariboy

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# 1985057 28-Mar-2018 17:17

when i read this i was like yea that is true, this is a match once every 4 years and just for six weeks. In a grand scale of things its small imho. I think if they lost the rugby rights then it would be a down fall of sky, but this could be seen as a start. 2020 is going to be a interesting year.

Balm its gone!

loceff13

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# 1985058 28-Mar-2018 17:19

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MikeB4:

for those wishing for a Sky demise think for a bit. They directly employ in excess of 1,200 people. The job losses would be greater than that as it would affect more than just sky. It would also leave 90%+ of our TV entertainment in off shore hands who don't really give a toss about a market that is a rounding error. Having said that SkyTV has assets in excess of $1 billion and credit lines probably close to that, they can ride this out if they innovate which I hope they do.

It wasn't that long ago when News Corp owned 40% of SKY NZ, as for their opportunities to innovate they recently said they still have no product being planned/prepared for fibre tv serices...

mattwnz

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# 1985064 28-Mar-2018 17:47

JPNZ:

Absolutely! Lets not forget with over 824,000 subscribers they are by far and away the dominant sport broadcaster in NZ

That is a good point. It was a very clever move to give to give spark broadband customers free subscriptions to lightbox. Potentially Lightbox could become the next sky.

ockel

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# 1985065 28-Mar-2018 17:49

gehenna:

@ockel criticise the idea, not the person.

In the last 25 years either as Telecom or Spark it has been a litany of failures in terms of attempting to enter the media world. I hope that this is not another Spark failure (assuming that its a TVNZ-Spark bid that gets the rights). Hopefully those that are either naive or ignorant would heed the advice that the leopards dont change their spots - regardless of whether they are presided over by the old guard or the new-old guard. Or they can continue to add their ignorant opinion to matters of which they have (apparently) very little understanding.

Dratsab

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# 1985071 28-Mar-2018 18:02

I agree with what others have already said, this isn't a disastrous thing for Sky. Sure, it's a bit of a kick in the pants but it is only a very short term event and it has no bearing on existing contracts or rights.

I think the Spark objection to VodaSky was a good thing as it prevented a behemoth with the ability to shut out others. If it turns out Spark/TVNZ do win the rights that'll be just be proof blocking the merger was the correct thing to do as it's kept competition alive.

Innovation and fresh thinking is what's needed at Sky. So with Fellet announcing he'll step aside sometime in the next 12 months, maybe this'll be their watershed moment.

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