Sky to acquire Discovery NZ (TV Three)

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#3396577 23-Jul-2025 15:51

PolicyGuy:

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

Point of interest: TVNZ is also an "official lifeline broadcaster" for TV. The govt only ever had a MOU with Three whereas TVNZ/RNZ are in the CD legislation.

openmedia

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#3396589 23-Jul-2025 16:32

quickymart:

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?

I find the reach argument amusing in the era of digital tv. Yes more people default to the channels 1-3 historically, both here and in the UK. I still know people who seldom watch anything other than TV One. Ditto in the UK there are older people who still won't watch Channel 4 and 5 as they are "not their thing".

I can see Sky radically adjusting the 5 FTA channels they've inherited alongside Sky Open, so lets see what the announce post 1st August. I can't see the current line up of "FAST" channels surviving the change.

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jameshammond

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#3396678 23-Jul-2025 21:38

Interested to see what they do with the multiple online platforms they now have, with Sky Go, Sky Sport Now, Neon, and ThreeNow. Surely there is some consolidation coming as they must all be expensive to maintain.

JPNZ

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#3396680 23-Jul-2025 21:51

jameshammond:

Interested to see what they do with the multiple online platforms they now have, with Sky Go, Sky Sport Now, Neon, and ThreeNow. Surely there is some consolidation coming as they must all be expensive to maintain.

from An Ex Sky senior tech friend of mine the two sport ones won’t be changing. They operate on 2 completely seperate tech platforms. I could see 3 now and Neon being pushed together with a free digital and paid digital offering.

I see in the news release that TVNZ may make part of TVNZ+ paid over time too.

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Apsattv

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#3396698 24-Jul-2025 05:39

So Sky gets

Three
Three +1
Eden
Eden +1
HGTV
Rush
Bravo
Bravo +1

and they have

Sky Open
Sky Open +1

That gives them a stack of advertising potential over the FTA networks. It also give them capacity to cull some and use the bandwidth to update others to HD or spinoff the plus channels into new formats using their future Warner Content rights. Warner has over 30 branded Fast channels on various platforms like Tubi, featuring their content. We may see more of them added onto 3now and Skys decoder as additional Free content.

Goosey

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#3396700 24-Jul-2025 06:20

Sky shouldn’t have touched the name of “Prime”. I feel the new name is lost on traditional linear viewers.

how long is +1 going to be a thing for…. That’s a lot of channels to create new opportunities.

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quickymart

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#3396707 24-Jul-2025 07:46

I thought the Prime name was good too - when I hear "Sky Open" for some reason I think of tennis?

old3eyes

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#3396718 24-Jul-2025 08:28

Will be interesting to see if Three's HD feed on Sky will be switched to the Freeview sat feed that is currently in SD.

Regards,

Old3eyes

BlakJak

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#3396782 24-Jul-2025 11:28

Journeyman:

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.

TVNZ are the lifeline TV broadcaster. My point is that terrestrial TV broadcast not dependent on Internet connectivity is a thing that would likely need to be retained just for that.

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richms

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#3396799 24-Jul-2025 13:02

quickymart:

I thought the Prime name was good too - when I hear "Sky Open" for some reason I think of tennis?

I heard thru the grapevine that there was something done with amazon to give the name up without fuss to allow amazon to have prime video without issues.

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alasta

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#3396805 24-Jul-2025 13:40

BlakJak:

TVNZ are the lifeline TV broadcaster.

In the lead up to Cyclone Gabriel NZME's talk station was playing promos about them being an approved civil emergency broadcaster while their contrarian on-air personalities were trivialising the danger of the impending disaster. If I recall correctly a lot of those same 'personalities' are shared with TVNZ.

The only broadcaster that I would trust in an emergency would be RNZ. Mediaworks did a good job during the Christchurch earthquake, but it remains to be seen how they would cope now that they no longer have a talk radio brand.

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elpenguino

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#3396818 24-Jul-2025 15:38

JPNZ:

I could see 3 now and Neon being pushed together with a free digital and paid digital offering.

Hopefully using the 3 now platform and not the buggy pile of doodoo that is neon

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old3eyes

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#3396864 24-Jul-2025 19:05

elpenguino:

JPNZ:

I could see 3 now and Neon being pushed together with a free digital and paid digital offering.

Hopefully using the 3 now platform and not the buggy pile of doodoo that is neon

And just add DD5. 1 sound as well.

Regards,

Old3eyes

quickymart

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#3397112 25-Jul-2025 16:24

https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/07/24/sky-taking-the-reins-at-three-makes-sense-for-everyone/

A column about the transaction from Mark Jennings who used to run TV3's newsroom. He sees the transaction as a good thing, and I'm inclined to agree with him.

old3eyes

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#3397146 25-Jul-2025 18:41

quickymart:

https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/07/24/sky-taking-the-reins-at-three-makes-sense-for-everyone/

A column about the transaction from Mark Jennings who used to run TV3's newsroom. He sees the transaction as a good thing, and I'm inclined to agree with him.

Interesting article but it only mentions Three. No mention of the other WBD channels of Bravo, HGTV, Rush and Eden. Gone by years end?

Regards,

Old3eyes

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