With all the excitement of the American midterms yesterday, this article seems to have been overlooked. It has some more interesting insights into whats happening at Vodafone, and a new type of glasnost that seems to have taken hold:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12156102

Key points (interview with Chris Keall of NBRHerald) I pick out:

1. Vodafone will list its New Zealand business in 2020, new chief executive Jason Paris says.

2. Negotiations have begun with Spark to put the Spark Sport app on Vodafone TV.

3. Paris  outlined ambitious plans for Vodafone TV, which he says he wants to extend from Vodafone premium customers to a wider mix - potentially including people with different ISPs.

The third point becomes genuinely interesting, and is akin to the SureSignal state of a couple of years ago, where the femtocell was tied to Vodafone supplying the internet connection. I believe that barrier has disappeared - any ISP will do, but only benefits Vodafone Sim's.

Whatever peoples thoughts on broadcast media are, there is still real power in a simple box that can be controlled with a remote, has massively fast response times close to 'button 1 for channel 1, button 2 for channel 2', can be displayed or connected to many screens - IN DIFFERENT TERRITORIES - and can be consumed by anyone.

The only thing that comes close is SkyTV's legacy boxes, TelstraClear's T-Boxes and Vodafones TV service, which is going through predictable growing pains making it not yet appealing as a replacement.

But... good to see some thinking coming from Smales Farm...