Sky to acquire Discovery NZ (TV Three)

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#3396398 23-Jul-2025 09:33

I listen to FM broadcast about 70% of the time. I appreciate a mix of music that I didn't have to preselect which brings back memories of music is forgotten or New music i have not been exposed to yet. And I consume on-the-hour news broadcasts.

FM broadcast is still a very efficient method of, well, broadcast.

I still watch the 6pm news too, albeit via stream these days (didn't replace our dvb-s decoder when it died, just use apps on the TV now).

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JPNZ

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#3396401 23-Jul-2025 09:41

Sky has been easily outperforming TVNZ and 3/WBD in NZ on revenue and profit. This is just adding to their market share and its a good move to effectively pick it up for next to nothing.

Its a good way to get a foot into more BVOD.

"Sky said the deal would boost its digital reach by 59% to about 1.2 million viewers, while its linear audience would gain 31.5% to about 2.2 million viewers. The deal opened the opportunities for cross-platform
marketing and significantly boosted Sky’s reach to younger, more diverse viewers. The deal would add to Sky’s existing audience a growing digital audience via ThreeNow, a BVOD platform that recently recorded its 12th straight quarter of viewership growth.

It would further grow Sky’s combined total linear television advertising revenue share to about 35% and total digital television advertising revenue share to about 24%.

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old3eyes

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#3396407 23-Jul-2025 09:58

alasta:

It's worth keeping in mind that Kordia's broadcasting infrastructure also supports FM radio. This raises an interesting question; if linear TV ceases, does that mean that Mediaworks and NZME would have to bear more cost for their radio transmissions and how would that impact the viability of that service? NZME's radio audience is rapidly aging, and it wasn't long ago that the auditors of Mediaworks were flagging an emerging financial crisis for the company.

FM radio has been kept alive largely by NZ's embarrassingly old vehicle fleet, but that won't last forever.

So every new car that's sold with an FM radio is now an old clunker?? get real FM radio will be around for a long time to come AM is another story however in the US AM radio is being mandated back into new cars due to their long range incase of an emergency.

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Old3eyes

richms

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#3396414 23-Jul-2025 10:14

old3eyes:

So every new car that's sold with an FM radio is now an old clunker?? get real FM radio will be around for a long time to come AM is another story however in the US AM radio is being mandated back into new cars due to their long range incase of an emergency.

I read it as more the lack of AA and carplay in the cars, not that they still have an FM tuner, since that is the only way that many people are able to consume media in their car from their phone. Basic bluetooth or aux in only means that you are having to interact with the phone which some people will not do.

Richard rich.ms

quickymart

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#3396480 23-Jul-2025 10:39

I listen to both AM and FM daily and know lots of other people that do.

Yes, there are those who love to stream/Spotify etc - but radio will always have a place for a very long time, at least.

Handle9

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#3396481 23-Jul-2025 10:41

old3eyes:

Handle9:

If they had the choice to be paid less in superannuation to allow the government to maintain the existing FTA network they’d quickly discover a love of streaming.

I bet not. I know plenty of older people who have no idea on how to stream content are quite happy with OTA TV and and and a Sky remote. Some "younger" people here seems like they can't wait for all forms of broadcast TV and fm radio to die along with the boomer generation.

They are happy with it because they don't pay for it directly. If they got asked to pay for it then they wouldn't be so happy.

Quinny

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#3396517 23-Jul-2025 11:54

It was a good move for Sky for two reasons: the ThreeNow app and the sports that TV3 has. Several times, I have thought about why I am paying for SkySport (I have a Sport Now sub) when what I am watching is free on TV3, e.g., NASCAR or yachting. The app is way better than either Sport Now (which is ok at best) or SkyGo (which is not available directly on the Google TV or other TV platforms). I would give it 1 year to have a massive update here. As others have said, the three-channel spot on base TV, having three channels (3, 4, 15), say one sport and two general, is enormous for Sky. Sky recently called me about a 1-year deal for SkySport/Starter that was barely more than a discounted Annual SkySportNow pass. While cheap, the no app was a deal breaker. Maybe I get them to call back in a year :)

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#3396519 23-Jul-2025 11:58

Those who think Sky got a 'bargain' should consider there are probably a number of liabilities that Sky will need to have taken on including, I imagine, quite a bit of tech debt. The devil is in the details.

There is the potential for there to be some opportunities, it's really a matter of whether they can make TV3 Profitable, or use TV3 resources to make Sky more profitable.

PolicyGuy

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#3396524 23-Jul-2025 12:07

old3eyes:

So every new car that's sold with an FM radio is now an old clunker?? get real FM radio will be around for a long time to come AM is another story however in the US AM radio is being mandated back into new cars due to their long range in case of an emergency.

In NZ, RNZ is the "official lifeline broadcaster" for Emergency Management messaging.

RNZ has a relatively widespread FM network (on 101.x MHz) but it still has big coverage gaps and a lot of JDM cars' FM radios don't reach up past 90 MHz*.
On the other hand, their AM network has a huge coverage area with relatively few gaps in populated areas. For example the 567 kHz transmitter in Titahi Bay (Wellington) covers as far north as Stratford in Taranaki, and probably a big chunk of the top of the South Island too.

The AM network is the one that counts for natural disasters

* The FM band for Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) car radios is 76-90 MHz. The NZ FM band is 88-108 MHz - the same as the international designation.

openmedia

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#3396539 23-Jul-2025 13:04

BlakJak:

I listen to FM broadcast about 70% of the time. I appreciate a mix of music that I didn't have to preselect which brings back memories of music is forgotten or New music i have not been exposed to yet. And I consume on-the-hour news broadcasts.

FM broadcast is still a very efficient method of, well, broadcast.

I agree. Longer trips I tend to stream podcasts or music from my phone, but often we just bounce between radio stations to avoid a lot of the chatter and repetition.

Also I tend to switch over to RNZ national on the hour to get some news coverage if I get a chance.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

quickymart

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#3396544 23-Jul-2025 13:22

PolicyGuy:

RNZ has a relatively widespread FM network (on 101.x MHz) but it still has big coverage gaps and a lot of JDM cars' FM radios don't reach up past 90 MHz*.
On the other hand, their AM network has a huge coverage area with relatively few gaps in populated areas. For example the 567 kHz transmitter in Titahi Bay (Wellington) covers as far north as Stratford in Taranaki, and probably a big chunk of the top of the South Island too.

The AM network is the one that counts for natural disasters

* The FM band for Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) car radios is 76-90 MHz. The NZ FM band is 88-108 MHz - the same as the international designation.

I've picked up 567 as far south as Dunedin and as far north as Auckland, both with a walkman in the 1990s. That's one powerful transmitter!

Also, the FM band in Japan was changed a few years ago to be 76-95 MHz:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_broadcasting_in_Japan

With Sky acquiring TV3, does this mean they'll shut down Prime/Sky Open? Probably not much need for it anymore, since they can put any FTA content they want on TV3, which has always had a much wider reach than Prime?

networkn

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#3396551 23-Jul-2025 13:46

It seems surprising to me that Sky hasn't sold to the likes of Stan's who's streaming platform is very very good (Though I suspect Stan would be disinterested in the terrestrial business). Or at least licensed their platform to deliver content. Sky has missed a number of opportunities to use something like Stans Platform to sell NZR+ on using that platform, and NZR could have just used the content they owned on that platform, even if it was an extra cost.

My only reason to keep Sky at this point is so I don't need to listen to those awful Australian Rugby Commentators and for the SkyGo App for when I travel inside of NZ. I don't understand why the streaming quality is better on their little app than their dedicated sports streaming app.

richms

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#3396561 23-Jul-2025 14:28

PolicyGuy:

* The FM band for Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) car radios is 76-90 MHz. The NZ FM band is 88-108 MHz - the same as the international designation.

Japan has extended it with the shutdown of analog TV that they had above 90MHz, which is why most things they sell there now do 76-108MHz on the FM

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#3396565 23-Jul-2025 14:34

networkn:

It seems surprising to me that Sky hasn't sold to the likes of Stan's who's streaming platform is very very good (Though I suspect Stan would be disinterested in the terrestrial business). Or at least licensed their platform to deliver content. Sky has missed a number of opportunities to use something like Stans Platform to sell NZR+ on using that platform, and NZR could have just used the content they owned on that platform, even if it was an extra cost.

My only reason to keep Sky at this point is so I don't need to listen to those awful Australian Rugby Commentators and for the SkyGo App for when I travel inside of NZ. I don't understand why the streaming quality is better on their little app than their dedicated sports streaming app.

Stan is Channel 9s pay streaming service with 9Now being it's FTA version. It's all part of the Nine Entertainment (Packer/Fairfax) group.

They probably have enough of their own problems to deal with.

Journeyman

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#3396576 23-Jul-2025 15:50

BlakJak:

Lifeline broadcast capability is a thing to consider.

The govt didn't seem concerned about this when WBD bought Three and gutted its news capability to a fraction of what it once was. I don't know if they do breaking news outside of their 6PM bulletin and I don't know if they even have the capability for that.

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