SKT Sky Network Television Limited.

[Entrep]

A great investor said the price would be $2.75 by the time the buyback commences. What gives?

[stoploss]

Put my new Skypod in this week to replace Vodaph TV. Picture is much better .
However it keeps going silent and I have to reboot it to get the sound back....

[Sideshow Bob]

A great investor said the price would be $2.75 by the time the buyback commences. What gives?

Patience grasshopper - it commences in a weeks time.

It obviously wasn't me who said that.....;)

[Mr Woods]

So the benefit to shareholders who don't sell during the buyback is that the total number of shares outstanding is reduced, therefore we stand to get a slightly bigger slice of the dividend pie? Plus hopefully the share price rises reflecting there's now fewer shares in the market?

[winner69]

So the benefit to shareholders who don't sell during the buyback is that the total number of shares outstanding is reduced, therefore we stand to get a slightly bigger slice of the dividend pie? Plus hopefully the share price rises reflecting there's now fewer shares in the market?

In theory YES ..... in practice not always the case

[RTM]

In theory YES ..... in practice not always the case

However this is correct.

“Assuming the full capacity of the buyback is utilised, at the 29 March share price of $2.55, it would be expected to deliver a 3.4% uplift in Earnings Per Share”.

And if the share price is cheaper, they can buy back a higher number of shares. Good for EPS long term. Of course the opposite is also true…..

[winner69]

Tom the CFO didn’t hang around for long

Long enough to get a farewell hug and cuddle from Sophie

https://announcements.nzx.com/detail/409429

[mistaTea]

Tom the CFO didn’t hang around for long

Long enough to get a farewell hug and cuddle from Sophie

https://announcements.nzx.com/detail/409429

Nothing to worry about at all I am sure! He he he.

Hey, at least old mate Andy gets to stick his snout in the trough again.

[BigBob]

Looks like the chairman sees value at about $2.55 per share - 100,000 shares for a cool $255,120 on market...

http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-website-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/SKT/409577/392203.pdf

[Vitamin_A]

Whether you rate the chairman or not, him increasing his holding with a not-insignificant purchase is a great signal in my mind.

[mistaTea]

Whether you rate the chairman or not, him increasing his holding with a not-insignificant purchase is a great signal in my mind.

Well, I would only think it is a great signal if you do rate the chairman?

If, on the other hand, you thought the chairman was a buffoon - well, you might not see it as much of a signal at all?

There I go again. Thinking things through.

I should know better by now!

[Balance]

Well, I would only think it is a great signal if you do rate the chairman?

If, on the other hand, you thought the chairman was a buffoon - well, you might not see it as much of a signal at all?

There I go again. Thinking things through.

I should know better by now!

mistaTea - who wrote that shareholders who participated in the CR (2.83 for 1 at 12c or $1.20 post consolidation) were making non-performing interest free loans to Sky!

Never mind the fact that the 'interest free' loans have returned over 100% in the last 3 years.

If you can find us another deal like that, please let us know.

[Entrep]

Director buying is meaningless, moreso when it comes from someone living in the UK and that has overseen Sky the last XX amount of years.

[Baa_Baa]

Director buying is meaningless, moreso when it comes from someone living in the UK and that has overseen Sky the last XX amount of years.

Disagree, same Director who has overseen the transformation strategy and execution of the turnaround of Sky, which is working and now returning to shareholders. The Board think the share price is not reflecting the value of the company, and making a substantial personal investment is not a symbolic statement of support, it is with an expectation that there will be an outsized return on their investment.

[airedale]

Looks like a $255,000 vote of confidence to me. Between Bowman and Moloney they have more shares {and skin in the game}} than any previous board mmembers including Fellett.

[Balance]

Disagree, same Director who has overseen the transformation strategy and execution of the turnaround of Sky, which is working and now returning to shareholders. The Board think the share price is not reflecting the value of the company, and making a substantial personal investment is not a symbolic statement of support, it is with an expectation that there will be an outsized return on their investment.

Agreed - Sky has been an outstanding performer for those of us who set aside emotions and bought the shares during the CR.

[Sideshow Bob]

And the buyback starts in 2 minutes.......

[Balance]

And the buyback starts in 2 minutes.......

Imagine trying to buy $15m of Sky shares?

[Leemsip]

yeah, this should pump the share price pretty good... cant wait

[sb9]

Sp should have 3 handle pretty soon.

[RGR367]

Sp should have 3 handle pretty soon.

It will get there eventually. Today's chart of ASB is not showing the low where I grabbed a bit more at 250.
And all we need now is another Ogg to stir mistaT for more analysis/paralysis so folks can join us for another ride to 300 :cool:

[Balance]

Director buying is meaningless, moreso when it comes from someone living in the UK and that has overseen Sky the last XX amount of years.

Seller’s regret?

You should be happy you sold to Sophie at $2.55?

Maybe not as it’s now $2.60 after paying the 6c dividend.

[mistaTea]

Turned on my VPN and set my Sony Bravia to USA.

The UI on my tv changes and there was a linear tv section. Hundreds of channels by Pluto TV - a ‘free’ streaming service owned by paramount I think.

A massive line up of programmes and a direct competitor to Sky on a number of channels.

VPN costs $15/month - and you also get access to more content on Netflix, Amazon prime etc.

HBO Max if you want.

Getting even harder to compete, from what I can see.

[Entrep]

Seller’s regret?

You should be happy you sold to Sophie at $2.55?

Maybe not as it’s now $2.60 after paying the 6c dividend.

Chill Balance

I said nothing about the price, how it subsequently dipped to $2.40, whether or not I re-entered there, nor the prospects of Sky in general.

[mistaTea]

Chill Balance

I said nothing about the price, how it subsequently dipped to $2.40, whether or not I re-entered there, nor the prospects of Sky in general.

UnBalanced only wants positive posts about sky.

Anything else and he will do his best to cancel you.

[errornz]

UnBalanced only wants positive posts about sky.

Anything else and he will do his best to cancel you.

As soon as you sold mista you went from bull to bear on Sky.

Yes you do mix in the odd positive comment here and there. Maybe to help hide your seller's remorse and to reassure yourself that selling was the best decision?

If you knew so much about Sky you wouldn't have bought at such a high price all those years ago.

As for me, I bought 48k shares at 1.48 average. Im more then happy with the return I have been getting so far and will continue to hold.

[mistaTea]

As soon as you sold mista you went from bull to bear on Sky.


That does appear to be the going summary from team cancel on my long and complex history with Sky.

No sellers remorse I can assure you. Without a doubt, the best trade I have done was dumping my SKT stock when I did - for all sorts of reasons.

[Balance]

That does appear to be the going summary from team cancel on my long and complex history with Sky.

No sellers remorse I can assure you. Without a doubt, the best trade I have done was dumping my SKT stock when I did - for all sorts of reasons.

LOL.

You have behaved like a jilted lover with Sky TV, bitter and regretful at the same time.

As for cancel, you would observe that all I have ever done is remind you of your various contradictory comments.

Like the infamous ‘interest free loans’ made by shareholders to bail the company out. The 2.83 : 1 rights issue at $1.20 (interest free loans according to you, remember?) has returned over 100% to participants over the last 3 years.

Please continue to post as I enjoy your posts immensely indeed!

[mistaTea]

LOL.

You have behaved like a jilted lover with Sky TV, bitter and regretful at the same time.

As for cancel, you would observe that all I have ever done is remind you of your various contradictory comments.

Like the infamous ‘interest free loans’ made by shareholders to bail the company out. The 2.83 : 1 rights issue at $1.20 (interest free loans according to you, remember?) has returned over 100% to participants over the last 3 years.

Please continue to post as I enjoy your posts immensely indeed!

Not sure what is infamous about the interest free loan comment or why you aren’t able to understand the mechanics of how it all works?

The Board and Management ran she SP into the ground within 18 months and then took Covid as the ideal time to ask existing shareholders for cash.

Given they just recently returned a bunch of it, my assertion that they effectively tapped shareholders for an interest free loan is accurate.

You are just looking at it through the lens of someone who invested after the CR. Sure, those people may have done very well - especially if they bought at the low of 10cps and didn’t sell until the very top.

But the existing shareholders at the time who could not fully or even partially participate in the CR will not share your bullish sentiment.

Those of us who were able to fully participate and buy more at the lows have broken even or maybe shown a small return (CAGR of the investment embarrassingly low relative to the indexes over the 2017 - 2022 period).

You may or may not have personally done well Balance, depending on when you bought in. As unverifiable as my claims to have spoken with management in a shareholder capacity - and nobody cares.

But you don’t seem to think like a business owner. That’s fine, nothing wrong with that. But it does mean you are unable to understand or appreciate where I am coming from.

And that is ok too - but you don’t get to try and cancel me just because you aren’t able to understand where I am coming from.

Most unBALANCEd indeed!

[Baa_Baa]

How to wreck your credibility and reputation:

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🥳 for many years while the SP was being ruined, then shortly after the turnaround actually starts working and the SP starts kicking in, then this (https://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthread.php?4216-SKT-Sky-Network-Television-Limited&p=974846&highlight=#post974846), at a loss "on paper I am probably down about $40K on this investment", then 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻🤮 ever since.

In those six weeks, open $2.37, high $2.72, low $2.26 (the day before the post). Selling into a falling SP. The prior high was $2.90 in April'22, about six months earlier, so a long ish spell of falling SP's.

It's not the loss after years of piling more and more $ into SKT, despite being pretty crap investing, it's that you ramped this for years sucking in numerous noobs, then on a dime turned, sold at a loss and worse, you have **** on it ever since even though it's going great.

Credibility, none. Reputation, shot to hell.

[Balance]

How to wreck your credibility and reputation:

�������������� for many years while the SP was being ruined, then shortly after the turnaround actually starts working and the SP starts kicking in, then this (https://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthread.php?4216-SKT-Sky-Network-Television-Limited&p=974846&highlight=#post974846), at a loss "on paper I am probably down about $40K on this investment", then �������������� ever since.

In those six weeks, open $2.37, high $2.72, low $2.26 (the day before the post). Selling into a falling SP. The prior high was $2.90 in April'22, about six months earlier, so a long ish spell of falling SP's.

It's not the loss after years of piling more and more $ into SKT, despite being pretty crap investing, it's that you ramped this for years sucking in numerous noobs, then on a dime turned, sold at a loss and worse, you have **** on it ever since even though it's going great.

Credibility, none. Reputation, shot to hell.

A good reputation like a strong tree can take decades to build/grow. Takes an idiot an hour to destroy that reputation/tree with a chainsaw.

I value mistaTea's contributions to ST as he provides a timely reminder that all is not positive out there when a sp is going up, just as all is not negative when a sp is going down.

Must say however that in recent times, he has completely lost perspective and objectivity.

Best exemplified by his 'interest free loans' negative comment on the CR which successfully turned around the company.

[snigmac]

I think Sky is in a much weaker position now, then it was 6 months ago. The launch of their box has been terrible. Instead of identifying innovative ways to grow the company, the company is recycling funds paid by shareholders. While the company may experience some gains (buy backs and etc), I suspect 2024 will review cracks in Sky's short term gains and cost cutting plans. It's hard to argue that Sky has a concrete and sound plan for growth in the next 5 years. Unless the company does something successful in the foreseeable future, it is likely that with Disney, HBO and others wanting to grow their digital streaming services in NZ, that Sky will fall behind due to its inability to grow and be innovative.

[mikelee]

You never know, it's hard to predict consumer sentiment sometimes and maybe we'll see some corporate actions near the end of the year when interest rates are set to start dropping again, following US Fed's lead. People have different reasons for holding the stock, so as long as you're happy with yours and understands the risk don't need to pay too much attention to chit chats here. :D

[Balance]

You never know, it's hard to predict consumer sentiment sometimes and maybe we'll see some corporate actions near the end of the year when interest rates are set to start dropping again, following US Fed's lead. People have different reasons for holding the stock, so as long as you're happy with yours and understands the risk don't need to pay too much attention to chit chats here. :D

On the contrary - I value the input of some of the posters on ST very much.

There are posters here who add a lot of value in appraising the fundamentals and the share price dynamics of a stock - in many instances, objective and better than what the analysts in stock broking firms can provide.

Just have to sort out the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

In any case, to each their own indeed!

[Leemsip]

They bought $50k worth on day 1 of the buy back...

Long way to $15m from here with volume at these levels. Have to laugh....

Its going to be $3 bucka pretty soon. easy money I reckon.

[Sideshow Bob]

43,647 shares through today. Likely the slow start to the buyback continues….

[RTM]

43,647 shares through today. Likely the slow start to the buyback continues….

“We” don’t want them to overpay for them tho….do we.

[Sideshow Bob]

“We” don’t want them to overpay for them tho….do we.

Well depends if you want them to buy yours?

14,622 in total yesterday, 10,000 on the NZX, rest on the ASX.

[RTM]

Well depends if you want them to buy yours?

14,622 in total yesterday, 10,000 on the NZX, rest on the ASX.

Not really Bob...the lower the price they buy at....the better off I will be should I keep my shares.
EPS will be higher.
Potential Dividends a bit higher
I will own a bigger share of the company.

However....I do note that this site is called ShareTrader. I tend to be a Share Holder unless there is a compelling reason to sell.

[mikelee]

Good first hand account about the rise of HBO for those not familiar with how paid TV all started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFw-mj6vNyM

[RTM]

43,647 shares through today. Likely the slow start to the buyback continues….

On the subject of the buybacks.....does anyone know if there is somewhere on NZX or, perhaps the SKY site, a table that summarizes what they have bought back ?
Or do you have to trawl back through the Market Announcements....pretty boring.

[Balance]

deleted deleted

Thanks, Mel!

[Mel]

On the subject of the buybacks.....does anyone know if there is somewhere on NZX or, perhaps the SKY site, a table that summarizes what they have bought back ?
Or do you have to trawl back through the Market Announcements....pretty boring.
The Capital Change notifications will provide the updated summary - i.e.
https://www.nzx.com/announcements/409893

[RTM]

The Capital Change notifications will provide the updated summary - i.e.
https://www.nzx.com/announcements/409893

Duh,,,thanks...should have read the whole thing more carefully. Didn't see the detail in header....just looked at the data in the table.
Thanks.

[RTM]

http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-website-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/SPK/409889/392556.pdf

Yet we don't see the same info on the SPARK ones ? Or am i miss reading that one as well ?

[RTM]

Interesting disclosure today.
1) I assume they are meeting their disclosure requirements...although this one goes back to August 22 for both NZ and Oz.
2) The price they realized - ~$2.26 for the OZ ones, $2.46 for the NZ ones is way below the current price (~$2.60).
3) If they are quitting their holding in SKY.....then ~80% of the outstanding SKY Buyback could be met with the Osmium holding

If this is the case....and they are OK with their current sell prices they disclosed ($2.26 - 2.46), then it is possible that buy back will do little to further increase the Sky Share price. Although the eps, dps etc should improve somewhat and that, in time, might take the SP higher.

Hmmmmm....is this the right way to think about this ?
What am I missing ?

RTM

[mistaTea]

Interesting disclosure today.
1) I assume they are meeting their disclosure requirements...although this one goes back to August 22 for both NZ and Oz.
2) The price they realized - ~$2.26 for the OZ ones, $2.46 for the NZ ones is way below the current price (~$2.60).
3) If they are quitting their holding in SKY.....then ~80% of the outstanding SKY Buyback could be met with the Osmium holding

If this is the case....and they are OK with their current sell prices they disclosed ($2.26 - 2.46), then it is possible that buy back will do little to further increase the Sky Share price. Although the eps, dps etc should improve somewhat and that, in time, might take the SP higher.

Hmmmmm....is this the right way to think about this ?
What am I missing ?

RTM

Well, OSMIUM clearly don't believe the predictions from some on this forum that Sky is going to hit $3 'very soon'.

Be interesting to see if Peter Kennan from Black Crane throws in the towel this year too.

[Baa_Baa]

Well, OSMIUM clearly don't believe the predictions from some on this forum that Sky is going to hit $3 'very soon'.

Be interesting to see if Peter Kennan from Black Crane throws in the towel this year too.

It is not clear at all, nor is it even credible that Osmium read Sharetrader member predictions. Osmium still have 6.87m shares, 4.732% of the company, a reduction of 1.075% of the company. That's hardly "throws in the towel". We'll never know though, now that they're under the 5% substantial holding threshold. Trust you to speculate on Black Crane, with no basis.

[mistaTea]

Deleted - no point getting into another argument

[airedale]

This week's "Listener" has a fair critique of the new box and remote by their technology writer Peter Griffin.

[Sideshow Bob]

This week's "Listener" has a fair critique of the new box and remote by their technology writer Peter Griffin.

"Fair" as in balanced, or "fair" as in average??

[hesiod]

Fair as in sideshow. Rights are the gold.

[airedale]

The listener costs $6.90, let us know your opinion.

[Sideshow Bob]

The listener costs $6.90, let us know your opinion.

Woooaahhhh! Far too rich for me!! Besides, it doesn't get to Bolivia....

[Leemsip]

you seriously in bolivia? what city?

[Bjauck]

Fair as in sideshow. Rights are the gold. It always seems that what I watch is being streamed by a service I don’t subscribe too _ or on a Sky channel I don’t subscribe to. Does more choice ultimately mean less choice of the stuff you want to watch? Unless you spend a truckload on subs or are forever trying to remember to cancel trial periods.

[Habits]

are forever trying to remember to cancel trial periods.

I know what you mean, when I order various online offers but have to remember which ones. It needs its own file. Apology Off topic

[Mel]

Does anyone have any idea why SKY would be purchasing such small parcels of shares under their buyback programme? I wouldn't expect them to be purchasing huge vols, but the vols seem very low to me.

[Balance]

Does anyone have any idea why SKY would be purchasing such small parcels of shares under their buyback programme? I wouldn't expect them to be purchasing huge vols, but the vols seem very low to me.

They have a year to do the buyback so no big hurry. Bleed the impatients out of their shares and allow those who are patient to reap the benefits.

[RTM]

Does anyone have any idea why SKY would be purchasing such small parcels of shares under their buyback programme? I wouldn't expect them to be purchasing huge vols, but the vols seem very low to me.

I also have been a bit surprised by the pace of their buy back as well. 539K shares for the month.
To meet their goal this leaves a run rate of 745K. So they are certainly getting behind.
What makes this more interesting is that the share price does not seem to be going up significantly....so why don't they take advantage of this and try to buy a few more, especially as they seem "OK" with buy prices in the 260 - 270 range.

On top of that...there is a possible seller who is might be feeding the supply side.
Interesting to watch it play out.
https://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthread.php?4216-SKT-Sky-Network-Television-Limited&p=1000850&viewfull=1#post1000850

[airedale]

400,000 + a few more on the ASX, the volume has picked up after ST posts.😉

[Balance]

400,000 + a few more on the ASX, the volume has picked up after ST posts.��

SKT is buying back around 25% of traded volume, it seems.

Makes a lot of sense as the buyback should not be the principal price determinant day to day.

[Sideshow Bob]

Osmium feeding into the buyback

http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-website-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/SKT/411759/394754.pdf

[Habits]

Osmium feeding into the buyback

http://nzx-prod-s7fsd7f98s.s3-website-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/attachments/SKT/411759/394754.pdf

Its certainly good to know, who's doing what. Why report holdings less than 5 percent for general shareholdings. 5 percent holding is the threshold I believe

[RTM]

Well....the share price is certainly not racing away... $2.48 this morning.
I guess holders should be happy that SKY are getting the buy back progressed at moderate buy prices for the most part.
Hmmmm,...or are they ? I guess we won't know until the buy back is over.
Disc: Modest holding (Bought as a subscription to the MrT / Ogg channel)

[winner69]

Share buy backs boost the share price ….short / medium / long term

One of the great myths of the investing world

[mistaTea]

Well, at least the buyback is benefiting one shareholder.

Osmium might have struggled to dump their stock so fast otherwise.

[moimoi]

Well, at least the buyback is benefiting one shareholder.

Osmium might have struggled to dump their stock so fast otherwise.

Yup...agitate at Board level for a buyback then dump their stock into it.

Class Act..

[airedale]

Does Osmium have a representative at board level?

[Balance]

One NZ (ex Vodafone NZ) first … Sky TV next.

The stage is set and it’s a matter of time imo.

https://www.nzx.com/announcements/412638

[mistaTea]

One NZ (ex Vodafone NZ) first … Sky TV next.

The stage is set and it’s a matter of time imo.

https://www.nzx.com/announcements/412638

Big dollars being spent with all these telco deals going on.

I told Sky years ago that they needed to pull finger and get a deal with Vocus NZ to become a telco. The market would value them much more if they owned some hard assets. First merge with Vocus, then add 2D...

But no, Sky is proud to be 'untelco' with their wholesale broadband deal.

A missed opportunity for sure.

And IFT would have to have rocks in their head to buy Sky now after they do the One NZ deal. Sh1tcan Vodafone TV because uptake was so low only to then buy Sky TV later on? Apart from that just being a bizarre scenario to contemplate...Sky TV is just fundamentally not the type of 'hard asset' that IFT go for.

[xafalcon]

Interesting to see Sky TV already advertising their new white box on TVNZ. I thought existing customer demand was supposed to soak up all the new decoder boxes for the foreseeable future? I guess the idea of paying cash for a decoder, that the customer doesn't own, hasn't proven to be such a great idea

Who would have thought.......

[DownTownJr]

Interesting to see Sky TV already advertising their new white box on TVNZ. I thought existing customer demand was supposed to soak up all the new decoder boxes for the foreseeable future? I guess the idea of paying cash for a decoder, that the customer doesn't own, hasn't proven to be such a great idea

Who would have thought.......


It goes beyond that the box is trash even for free I wouldn't touch it.

[Balance]

It goes beyond that the box is trash even for free I wouldn't touch it.

You professing an opinion without trying it?

I have a smart TV so does not need the Sky box. I will try it though if it’s free like the satellite dish.

[DownTownJr]

You professing an opinion without trying it?

I have a smart TV so does not need the Sky box. I will try it though if it’s free like the satellite dish.

Family member has one which I tested out

[Sideshow Bob]

We got an offer yesterday for the new box - $50 off, now $150.

Not keen at all. Definitely not paying them for it.

[RTM]

No buy-backs by SKY for a few days. Seems odd
About 20% of buyback done.

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

[mistaTea]

No buy-backs by SKY for a few days. Seems odd
About 20% of buyback done.

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

Yes, well if they bought a bunch of expensive set top boxes that they are struggling to flog then perhaps they need to preserve some more cash.

Such low volumes anyway. Perhaps they would have been better off to just to a tender offer.

[Moneyman]

Buy-back will be paused as they are within a month of year end results, it will resume again after the results announcement.

[RTM]

Buy-back will be paused as they are within a month of year end results, it will resume again after the results announcement.

Thanks. That makes sense.

[blackcap]

Anyone use the new SKY Box?

I have been with SKY for about 8 years non-stop now pay them about $100 a month or $1,200 a year (yes I know).

Now to upgrade they want me to pay for their new box? Surely they would just allow people to switch free of charge or am I missing something?

What's going to happen, is that after this years Tour de France and Wimbledon, I am going to say goodbye to Sky. So much more free stuff on You Tube and other channels.

[Entrep]

Anyone use the new SKY Box?

I have been with SKY for about 8 years non-stop now pay them about $100 a month or $1,200 a year (yes I know).

Now to upgrade they want me to pay for their new box? Surely they would just allow people to switch free of charge or am I missing something?

What's going to happen, is that after this years Tour de France and Wimbledon, I am going to say goodbye to Sky. So much more free stuff on You Tube and other channels.

You will notice lag when switching channels and other annoyances. That's about it. No one need a freakin box, except Sky of course because of the satellite.

[Jay]

The new box was trying to be sold to me this week ($50) as a reward for being 20+ years with them, never mind a month ago I could have also got it for $50 just by logging into my account and asking to switch -
I haven't!

[blackcap]

Thanks for the swift replies. I almost considered getting it, but having to pay for it was just a bit on the nose. Then I realised I have been watching more live sport content on Youtube and twitch for free and the SKY proposition is making less and less sense. I will just pay for 2 months subs in July August for my tennis and cycling fix and be done with it.

The really annoying bit for me too is that their membership (for want of a better word) is so inflexible. I don't want basic. All I want is sports. The add ons don't interest me.

I also strongly object to their taking RT off the channel. Not that I am endorsing RT, but I find it fascinating that they would censor this channel (I am guessing because of the war?) yet the US based channels are all fair game during Iraq war, and other invasions such as Afghanistan. Not picking a side, just think censorship is not the way to go. I can still get RT online.

[Sideshow Bob]

Thanks for the swift replies. I almost considered getting it, but having to pay for it was just a bit on the nose. Then I realised I have been watching more live sport content on Youtube and twitch for free and the SKY proposition is making less and less sense. I will just pay for 2 months subs in July August for my tennis and cycling fix and be done with it.

The really annoying bit for me too is that their membership (for want of a better word) is so inflexible. I don't want basic. All I want is sports. The add ons don't interest me.

I also strongly object to their taking RT off the channel. Not that I am endorsing RT, but I find it fascinating that they would censor this channel (I am guessing because of the war?) yet the US based channels are all fair game during Iraq war, and other invasions such as Afghanistan. Not picking a side, just think censorship is not the way to go. I can still get RT online.

Just get the Sport Sports Now. $400 for the year, sorry I mean $399.99....:sleep:

New box is a definite no go in our house when we are currently on $100/month plan. $200 is for suckers!! (I do realise that I'm a sucker paying $100/month, but anywho....)

[LaserEyeKiwi]

Anyone use the new SKY Box?

I have been with SKY for about 8 years non-stop now pay them about $100 a month or $1,200 a year (yes I know).

Now to upgrade they want me to pay for their new box? Surely they would just allow people to switch free of charge or am I missing something?

What's going to happen, is that after this years Tour de France and Wimbledon, I am going to say goodbye to Sky. So much more free stuff on You Tube and other channels.

Had already ditched the box and moved to a sky sport app subscription on Apple TV. However last week let that monthly subscription end now that there is no good sport to watch for a few months. That is the beauty for the consumer of using the sky sport now app instead of the traditional sky box. When there is no point paying $45 a month for those months when nothing is on, there is zero friction involved in cancelling (you just turn off subscription renewal on your app subscription) compared to the horrible experience of attempting to cancel a skybox for a couple of months (i doubt 99% of skybox users would bother canceling/changing their subscriptions between sporting seasons).

I will resubscribe for a couple of months over rugby World Cup, and then cancel again, and might then go another few months before maybe resubscribing for a few months again in 2024 when super rugby restarts.

Changing from skybox to sky sport now month-by-month billing on the app is saving me $600+ a year - which would be a similar saving for anyone else who is primarily subscribed to sky for one particular sport.

[blackcap]

Thanks, it seems sky sport app is the way to go. I will get onto that. $100 a month is just too much money to throw away.

Not sure how SKY are going to survive going forward if people of my demographic are thinking of ditching them due to cost/ease of use. What is their competitive advantage?

[errornz]

Buy-back will be paused as they are within a month of year end results, it will resume again after the results announcement.

When is year-end results announced?

[Sideshow Bob]

When is year-end results announced?

Don't think its been announced yet, but last year was the 25th of August.

Still have to finish the financial year!! :)

[bottomfeeder]

Thanks, it seems sky sport app is the way to go. I will get onto that. $100 a month is just too much money to throw away.

Not sure how SKY are going to survive going forward if people of my demographic are thinking of ditching them due to cost/ease of use. What is their competitive advantage?

Sounds like competition and technology are catching up with SKY. No doubt these comments are the tip of the iceberg. Will take a lot of cost cutting to become a major player over the next few years.

[mistaTea]

Thanks, it seems sky sport app is the way to go. I will get onto that. $100 a month is just too much money to throw away.

Not sure how SKY are going to survive going forward if people of my demographic are thinking of ditching them due to cost/ease of use. What is their competitive advantage?

Yeah SSN the way to go.

Much more flexibility. For example, you may not have watched the whole SR season - but might have wanted to watch the final last weekend. You could pay Sky $20 for a week pass, watch the game and then cancel your sub.

$20 to have the boys over to watch the final is pretty cheap. Good for the punter, but probably not so good for Sky as it would clearly be better for them to hook people into paying $100/month, every month regardless of whether they spend most of their time watching Netflix.

[Balance]

Sell sell sell!!!!

The Sky is falling!!!!!

[Slim_Pikins]

Sounds like competition and technology are catching up with SKY. No doubt these comments are the tip of the iceberg. Will take a lot of cost cutting to become a major player over the next few years.

I got the “special loyalty package “ $50. I have been a subscriber since the very beginning. My opinion of the new box is that it is ****e. There are so many issues I wish I had my old sky box and remote back. Crikey, I just love new technology but this new set up is a joke. I see there are many people with this opinion on their Facebook page so I am assuming there is a super upgrade coming. If not, I’m out of here. As you all say, there are so many options available now. For example, I am following the career of Liam Lawson. When he went to Super Formula in Japan I subscribed to Motorsport.tv for us$49 per year which gives you a plethora of motor racing. This is an example of what the future is. F this $80 + a month crap.

[Entrep]

I see there are many people with this opinion on their Facebook page so I am assuming there is a super upgrade coming.

How? It's a hardware box. That's the entire point vs just distributing apps. TVs are the STB now.

I am sure they will roll out some patch with some sort of improvement, but the lag etc will still be there. Absolute cock up.

[Balance]

Sky Box is crashing!

Sky is falling!

Sell!!!!

[mistaTea]

I got the “special loyalty package “ $50. I have been a subscriber since the very beginning. My opinion of the new box is that it is ****e. There are so many issues I wish I had my old sky box and remote back. Crikey, I just love new technology but this new set up is a joke. I see there are many people with this opinion on their Facebook page so I am assuming there is a super upgrade coming. If not, I’m out of here. As you all say, there are so many options available now. For example, I am following the career of Liam Lawson. When he went to Super Formula in Japan I subscribed to Motorsport.tv for us$49 per year which gives you a plethora of motor racing. This is an example of what the future is. F this $80 + a month crap.

I remember hoping for ‘big’ software improvements when I had vodafone tv years ago. And that was a straight IP box (didn’t have the complication of trying to serve up IP and satellite content).

Anyway, they did a couple of upgrades - but no major overhaul and the big UX problems with the box persisted until the day it died.

Hopefully Sky will do a better job with their box and fix these issues. It does seem that a number of people have regretted trading their MySKY box.

[mistaTea]

I noticed on my new Apple TV that the Apple streaming service (Apple TV+) has an option for some live sport (limited to some football I think).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2023/03/01/apple-tv-is-looking-into-streaming-more-live-sports/amp/

It will be interesting to see how far they go in this area. Sports aside, I must say Apple TV+ now has a very good array of content to watch (for $12 a month at the moment).

They seem to still see content as a key addition to their core products, evidenced by the big investment they continue to make.

And it looks like they may want to muscle in and do global deals for more key sports too.

Having a business that gushes cash and a market cap close to US$3T sure does help!

[Balance]

The sky is falling!

Sell!

[Slim_Pikins]

How? It's a hardware box. That's the entire point vs just distributing apps. TVs are the STB now.

I am sure they will roll out some patch with some sort of improvement, but the lag etc will still be there. Absolute cock up.

Who would’ve thought it was a good idea to roll out a new sky box and outsource your help desk at the same time. Crickey

[mistaTea]

Who would’ve thought it was a good idea to roll out a new sky box and outsource your help desk at the same time. Crickey

Hey now - none of that!

Sophie has promised NZ exceptional service from the Indian Call Centre!

[Slim_Pikins]

Hey now - none of that!

Sophie has promised NZ exceptional service from the Indian Call Centre!

I decided to go onto the sky chat option to see if I could get some information about the issues I am having and after describing a few issues this was the response and then I was disconnected.

Unfortunately, as of now, our new Sky Box is not yet fully updated. There might be some issues with some of the features on your new Sky box.On behalf of the Sky Team, I do apologize for the experience with the new Sky Box. Please bear with us until the updates for the new Sky Box are finalized. Our team is doing their best to update the new Sky Box in a convenient way.

Looks like your typical copy and paste reply. If anyone is thinking of upgrading, my advice is don’t. It’s so far away from having the functionality and reliability of the old mysky it’s laughable. Don’t be fooled by the BS.

[mistaTea]

I decided to go onto the sky chat option to see if I could get some information about the issues I am having and after describing a few issues this was the response and then I was disconnected.

Unfortunately, as of now, our new Sky Box is not yet fully updated. There might be some issues with some of the features on your new Sky box.On behalf of the Sky Team, I do apologize for the experience with the new Sky Box. Please bear with us until the updates for the new Sky Box are finalized. Our team is doing their best to update the new Sky Box in a convenient way.

Looks like your typical copy and paste reply. If anyone is thinking of upgrading, my advice is don’t. It’s so far away from having the functionality and reliability of the old mysky it’s laughable. Don’t be fooled by the BS.

All I remember is how the fancy marketing of VTV went on about how it was going to change the way kiwis watch TV etc. And it was an absolute let down and ultimately flopped.

Apple TV by far the best STB in market in my opinion.

[LaserEyeKiwi]

Sky renews deal with WB/Discovery.

maybe a signal that HBO Max isn’t launching in New Zealand, good for NEON.

Although the words “exclusive” and ‘home of” are not mentioned once, which is a red flag. Currently WB movies are available on other streaming platforms, one wonders if WB TV series will also become available on those same platforms.

This is also a bit suspicious: “we’re thrilled that this new deal also has optionality at its core”

[mistaTea]

Sky renews deal with WB/Discovery.

maybe a signal that HBO Max isn’t launching in New Zealand, good for NEON.

Although the words “exclusive” and ‘home of” are not mentioned once, which is a red flag. Currently WB movies are available on other streaming platforms, one wonders if WB TV series will also become available on those same platforms.

This is also a bit suspicious: “we’re thrilled that this new deal also has optionality at its core”

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2023/07/warner-bros-discovery-signs-new-multi-year-content-agreement-with-sky.amp.html

Yeah it is a co-exclusive deal. They can release Max in NZ too - but have not released any plans to do so as of yet.

Not ideal, but the best sky could hope for realistically. An exclusive deal was probably not on the table, and if it was I suspect it would have just been too damn expensive.

HBO a huge drawcard for NEON so great they keep it.

How great depends on how much it cost sky to renew on the new terms.

Also if Max does release - I suspect NEON will take a hit in subs as people prefer to access the entire Warner/disco content library from their app.

[bulltrap]

From the announcement (https://announcements.nzx.com/detail/414399):


The agreement includes channel and content rights, spanning thousands of hours of some of the world’s most popular series and movies, including:
[...]
• HBO’s esteemed series and documentaries, including Game of Thrones, Sex & The City, Big Little Lies, Chernobyl and Veep.


Questions to ruminate on:
Which of those shows is a documentary? :confused:

How many years is this deal for?

Checking for the history of Sky-HBO/Warner deals:


In Aug 2021, an exclusive multi-year deal was signed (NZX announcement (https://www.nzx.com/announcements/378056)). BusinessDesk reported this as being a few more years (https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/markets/sky-locks-in-hbo-for-a-few-more-years) (paywalled) - but given it was renegotiated just two years later, I'm wondering if this was creative reporting based on the Sky press release (https://www.sky.co.nz/-/sky-and-warnermedia-expand-long-term-relationship), and the 'multi-year' language was Sky's positive spin on a two-year contract. Can anyone with access to the full BusinessDesk article see further clues?
Prior to that, a renewed exclusive deal for HBO was mentioned in the 2015 Annual Report (https://www.sky.co.nz/documents/117005/348248/2015+Annual+Report.pdf/329cd136-6955-4d4c-f0c2-a6b6323c98de?t=1599087090635), but I didn't find any other related market announcements. That suggests the 2015 deal was for at least six years.

Given the loss of exclusivity and the short time since the 2021 deal, I'd speculate that Warner pushed for early termination, to pave the way for HBO Max launch in NZ. That sounds bad for Sky, but if true they had a strong hand for getting the content at reduced cost.

[mistaTea]

Release of Max in NZ is just a matter of time. They are playing it smart - launching their own OTT service where and when it makes sense while also maintaining a cash stream from Pay TV aggregators.

Irrespective of Max, I am sure they will want to put some of their new HBO and Discovery shows on TV3 too in order to maximise advertising revenue.

Lots of revenue streams for WD.

Not great for Sky, but all things considered - the best they could hope for I think. It would have been game over for NEON if they lost the deal altogether.

[LaserEyeKiwi]

From the announcement (https://announcements.nzx.com/detail/414399):



Questions to ruminate on:
Which of those shows is a documentary? :confused:

How many years is this deal for?

Checking for the history of Sky-HBO/Warner deals:


In Aug 2021, an exclusive multi-year deal was signed (NZX announcement (https://www.nzx.com/announcements/378056)). BusinessDesk reported this as being a few more years (https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/markets/sky-locks-in-hbo-for-a-few-more-years) (paywalled) - but given it was renegotiated just two years later, I'm wondering if this was creative reporting based on the Sky press release (https://www.sky.co.nz/-/sky-and-warnermedia-expand-long-term-relationship), and the 'multi-year' language was Sky's positive spin on a two-year contract. Can anyone with access to the full BusinessDesk article see further clues?
Prior to that, a renewed exclusive deal for HBO was mentioned in the 2015 Annual Report (https://www.sky.co.nz/documents/117005/348248/2015+Annual+Report.pdf/329cd136-6955-4d4c-f0c2-a6b6323c98de?t=1599087090635), but I didn't find any other related market announcements. That suggests the 2015 deal was for at least six years.

Given the loss of exclusivity and the short time since the 2021 deal, I'd speculate that Warner pushed for early termination, to pave the way for HBO Max launch in NZ. That sounds bad for Sky, but if true they had a strong hand for getting the content at reduced cost.

that 2021 businessdesk piece was just a very small news update, but it did have one thing which is missing from todays announcement:

“Sky TV will keep the rights to HBO’s suite of premium entertainment for a few more years after signing a new deal with WarnerMedia that will stretch into co-producing new local programmes.”

looks like the co-production agreement has been ditched?

[moimoi]

SKT quite possibly the worst NZX participant for announcements without pertinent details that shareholders could use to assess the companies prospects.

Quite how their corporate marketing waffle meets the regulators definition of disclosure is astounding.

GLTA.

[Balance]

The Sky is falling!

Sell!

Sp going back to $2.00 very very soon.

[mistaTea]

At this rate, before long they might need to do another rebrand.

Sky - the Home of Sweet Fanny Adams.

[mistaTea]

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/132530126/sky-tv-asked-flood-victims-to-dig-up-or-pay-for-sky-boxes-says-consumer-nz

Wow. Just wow.

[snigmac]

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/132530126/sky-tv-asked-flood-victims-to-dig-up-or-pay-for-sky-boxes-says-consumer-nz

Wow. Just wow.

Doesn't really surprise me given the company's performance over the last 6 months. It's a sinking ship.

[Balance]

The Sky is falling!!!!!

Sell!!!!!

$2.00 soon?

[mistaTea]

https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/11-07-2023/what-does-the-new-sky-hbo-deal-mean-for-the-impending-arrival-of-max

[Getty]

Comments from those in the know please.

Reading through the FAQ's on Sky's site, the new Skybox effectively gives a subscriber a smart TV for $50, when connected into a standard TV?

Gains are:
double the recording space,
5 channel simultaneous recording.


Losses are;
All existing recordings.

For now at least,
No programme reminders.
No TVNZ guide??

I presume less power drain than existing box and attachments?

[mistaTea]

Comments from those in the know please.

Reading through the FAQ's on Sky's site, the new Skybox effectively gives a subscriber a smart TV for $50, when connected into a standard TV?

Gains are:
double the recording space,
5 channel simultaneous recording.


Losses are;
All existing recordings.

For now at least,
No programme reminders.
No TVNZ guide??

I presume less power drain than existing box and attachments?

Dunno mate - but if media coverage is anything to go by… then Sophie’s Box is a bit of a stinker…

[Marilyn Munroe]

Spreadsheet jockeys rather than creatives are likely to take over Mousewitz because of the ambiguity and skepticism surrounding Disney.

The expense of sustaining a direct-to-view product for a tiny island nation in the South Pacific with a small population is one of the topics the new Big Bad Wolf will examine. The Wolf will search for substitutes.

SOPHIE RED RIDING HOOD: "My what a compelling distribution deal you have."

BIG BAD WOLF: "All the better to improve the mouse's balance sheet my dear."

Boop boop de do
Marilyn

[LaserEyeKiwi]

Spreadsheet jockeys rather than creatives are likely to take over Mousewitz because of the ambiguity and skepticism surrounding Disney.

The expense of sustaining a direct-to-view product for a tiny island nation in the South Pacific with a small population is one of the topics the new Big Bad Wolf will examine. The Wolf will search for substitutes.

SOPHIE RED RIDING HOOD: "My what a compelling distribution deal you have."

BIG BAD WOLF: "All the better to improve the mouse's balance sheet my dear."

Boop boop de do
Marilyn

Wat?

Disney has absolutely zero interest in buying Sky if that is what you are implying.

[cyclist]

I think MM is implying that Disney would make more money selling their content to an aggregator in such a small market as ours. Versus selling direct to fickle consumers who buy a months service to binge watch what they are interested in, and then cancel and move onto the next platform(s) for a month or three.

Likely quite true.

P.s. but it sure was an obscure comment. Nztx without the winks.

[errornz]

Nearly two months since their last on market buy back. Price is holding decent. Might see $3 before year end.

[mistaTea]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/winners-and-losers-why-the-new-sky-tv-box-is-full-of-problems/P442CY7MWBHBHMEJIW4MMULXNA/

[LaserEyeKiwi]

Now seeing WB & HBO content showing up on Netflix. What’s more, the WB movie content I am seeing on Netflix is no longer available on neon.

[blackcap]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/winners-and-losers-why-the-new-sky-tv-box-is-full-of-problems/P442CY7MWBHBHMEJIW4MMULXNA/

It's behind the paywall. What's the gist of the article please?

[Entrep]

It's behind the paywall. What's the gist of the article please?

Bugs in the new box.

Sky is in a tough spot. For me, if I use something and it craps out, is buggy, I won't use it again. My current box works well. As does the Netflix app on my Smart TV etc etc

Standards are impossibly high for a small NZ company.

[blackcap]

Bugs in the new box.

Sky is in a tough spot. For me, if I use something and it craps out, is buggy, I won't use it again. My current box works well. As does the Netflix app on my Smart TV etc etc

Standards are impossibly high for a small NZ company.

Thanks Entrep, I still have the old sky box, but am going to get rid of sky shortly. I see I got an email this morning telling me why my fees need to go up again....

[Sideshow Bob]

Thanks Entrep, I still have the old sky box, but am going to get rid of sky shortly. I see I got an email this morning telling me why my fees need to go up again....

They almost seem to just send out those price increase emails every few months......

Definitely no new box in our house, and getting close to the threshold where Sky gets punted for touch.

Disc: Small Holder

[blackcap]

They almost seem to just send out those price increase emails every few months......

Definitely no new box in our house, and getting close to the threshold where Sky gets punted for touch.

Disc: Small Holder

Me too, I am waiting for the La Veulta to be over and its goodbye SKY.

[Sideshow Bob]

Me too, I am waiting for the La Veulta to be over and its goodbye SKY.

Does the Cricket World Cup not rate Blackcap??

I see England tour looks to be on TVNZ, but World Cup is on Sky......

Still not over the last World Cup.......arrrggghhh!!

[blackcap]

Does the Cricket World Cup not rate Blackcap??

I see England tour looks to be on TVNZ, but World Cup is on Sky......

Still not over the last World Cup.......arrrggghhh!!


O yes it certainly does, but I will do the monthly sub for that one. I mean get rid of the box.. I need a motivator to do that. And the seemingly monthly increases are a good kick up the bum..

[mistaTea]

NEON subs probably near max now.

I think sky have a way to go in SSN growth, however this will be at the expense of the set top box subs. Especially since this new box is not a drawcard given the issues that continue to plague it.

As I have mentioned before, tough road for sky moving forward as they have not managed to pull off any M&A deals that will guarantee a future of growth. I have listed the options I thought they would investigate many times in the past.

Sky tv is not going to go bust any time soon, but it is just hard to see a realistic path to growth given the current state of affairs and industry changes. Hence me no longer owning shares in the company.

And who would want to M&A with sky now? They have largely squandered the cashflow they generated over the last 6 years and are now viewed as BLOCKBUSTER by many.

No telco would want to buy them now. Why when they can just do a deal with a streamer?

I doubt NZME see as much value now in doing a deal with sky. Even if they did a merger, it’s hardly anything to salivate over as an investor.

Foxtel still dreaming about doing an IPO and getting a premium price for their company, so no Foxtel-Sky deal ever likely to happen.

So they just muddle along, and hope they can continue to secure enough key content at prices that don’t bankrupt them.

Next few years will be interesting. Sky here for the foreseeable future, but I think the company will more likely be worth less over time (not worthless, but worth less).

[xafalcon]

I am a Sky Sport Now customer, and while the product works most of the time, the customer service is crap. So when something goes wrong, you're on your own. And for a $400?? product, that is unacceptable

If I don't get a discount "Black Friday" deal, I'm off to the Foxtel version called Kayo Sports. At full price, SSN is more expensive than Kayo + VPN. And Kayo is a monthly subscription with much more content

Sky TV continue to shoot themselves in the foot with uncompetitive pricing and crap customer service. The same two problems they have had for 30 years. Only now, there are other options for unhappy customers to get their content from

[Entrep]

I am a Sky Sport Now customer, and while the product works most of the time, the customer service is crap. So when something goes wrong, you're on your own. And for a $400?? product, that is unacceptable

If I don't get a discount "Black Friday" deal, I'm off to the Foxtel version called Kayo Sports. At full price, SSN is more expensive than Kayo + VPN. And Kayo is a monthly subscription with much more content

Sky TV continue to shoot themselves in the foot with uncompetitive pricing and crap customer service. The same two problems they have had for 30 years. Only now, there are other options for unhappy customers to get their content from

Any idea how you could get the Kayo app on a Smart TV to go through VPN, and leave other apps untouched?

Also surely they block VPNs like all the other SVOD providers?

[mistaTea]

Any idea how you could get the Kayo app on a Smart TV to go through VPN, and leave other apps untouched?

Also surely they block VPNs like all the other SVOD providers?

You would have to turn your VPN on when you went to watch content from a provider abroad and switch it off when you want to watch NZ provider content.

They do try block VPN’s (aggregators like sky and Foxtel have an obligation to do so) but it is difficult to do in practice.

[xafalcon]

Any idea how you could get the Kayo app on a Smart TV to go through VPN, and leave other apps untouched

Also surely they block VPNs like all the other SVOD providers?

Google is your friend

[mistaTea]

I see sky bundled soho in with entertainment.

And entertainment going up about $3 a month.

So the customers that were getting soho as a freebie anyway are just paying $3 more a month.

And those that didn’t have soho are also paying $3 more, but get more value for their 3 buck increase which is better than a kick in the b@lls.

Even if you aren’t a sports fan, to try their entertainment bundle is still around $70 a month (starter + entertainment + MySky rental fee).

Pretty steep when Apple TV+ is $12.99 a month and Amazon prime is $8 a month. Disney works out to $12.50 per month if you buy the annual pass.

So for $33.50 a month you could just have those three services which have more content than you could ever watch.

You would have to add both NETFLIX premium and neon to the mix before you exceeded sky entertainment bundle.

[Baa_Baa]

SP up 3 cents, market likes the increased revenues.

[mistaTea]

SP up 3 cents, market likes the increased revenues.

I see.

Then your explanation for the 4c SP drop today is?

Looking at short term price movements as an ‘explanation’ for anything is asinine.

[mistaTea]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/media-insider-nbr-ditches-all-opinion-sky-ceos-sincere-apology-over-tv-box-troubles-seven-sharps-delicate-my-food-bag-line/FH5DHU5ACVFDVGT4RJSKAFNWBI/

Box must be really bad if SM is issuing a public apology…

[Entrep]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/media-insider-nbr-ditches-all-opinion-sky-ceos-sincere-apology-over-tv-box-troubles-seven-sharps-delicate-my-food-bag-line/FH5DHU5ACVFDVGT4RJSKAFNWBI/

Box must be really bad if SM is issuing a public apology…

Yep agree. Completely inexcusable though.

Just too hard to compete tech and experience wise with international players, which is what everyone expects now. AND the old box is pretty bullet proof and just works.

[mistaTea]

Yep agree. Completely inexcusable though.

Just too hard to compete tech and experience wise with international players, which is what everyone expects now. AND the old box is pretty bullet proof and just works.

The new box probably would have worked ok if they didn’t try to be too clever with this hybrid model and just made it a straight IP offering (like vodafone tv).

Those who prefer the satellite broadcast would just stick with the MySky box and continue to pay their monthly subs for the foreseeable future.

Given VTV was a flop, even if their new box was just IP it probably wouldn’t have attracted a vast amount of subs.

As you say, the tech has moved on significantly and sky is not a technology company - so the idea that they could ever present a piece of tech that would rival Apple, Samsung, Sony etc…is a tough sell.

My Apple TV already aggregates Disney+ and Amazon Prime content with its own Apple TV+ service. And it works flawlessly each time I turn it on.

So they are already making big leaps in terms of being the aggregator of all the streaming services - if they can fully crack this area it will be a game changer for the majority of us who juggle multiple services.

Sky’s new box can barely play its own content from what I gather, let alone aggregate third party content effectively.

[Balance]

I see.

Then your explanation for the 4c SP drop today is?

Looking at short term price movements as an ‘explanation’ for anything is asinine.

Which is of course what you used to do as when the sp came under pressure?

Sauce for the gander etc etc

Results will be out soon enough next week …. Dividends and share buyback to look forward to.

[Sideshow Bob]

The Boomers on ZB's Facebook page aren't happy!!


14719

[mistaTea]

Which is of course what you used to do as when the sp came under pressure?

Sauce for the gander etc etc

Results will be out soon enough next week …. Dividends and share buyback to look forward to.

I was waiting for you to return Unbalanced! Welcome.

I can’t think of a single time that I speculated on short term price movements (for any stock) ‘meaning’ anything.

Things must be really bad for Sky if all you have to offer is a Fake News comment!

[Balance]

I was waiting for you to return Unbalanced! Welcome.

I can’t think of a single time that I speculated on short term price movements (for any stock) ‘meaning’ anything.

Things must be really bad for Sky if all you have to offer is a Fake News comment!

Case in point :


You are panicking mate. Be calm. Breath.

It is BAU until Arie can work with the interested parties to get the best possible deal.

If there are potentially multiple parties that could make a binding offer, why would shareholders want 20c?

I think Sky will probably end up going for 30c/share.

A damn shame really to see the business go for only 75% of revenue, but the market has basically forced this outcome by rating Sky so low for so long despite the obvious progress and traction they are making in key areas.

Sigh.

[mistaTea]

Case in point :

You are clutching mate. That was a response ages ago to another poster speculating about an imminent takeover.

Discussing theoretical buyouts is in no way the same as watching a random small movement of the stock price on any given day and trying to extract ‘meaning’ from it.

But you are so unbalanced in your views that the nonsense you spread doesn’t really surprise me anymore.

I can’t find a single valuable post from with that sheds any light on your understanding of the business.

You are only good for troll posts because you lack substance.

[mistaTea]

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/page/struggling-tv3-asks-govt-for-financial-relief

Tough gig if WBD are going cap in hand.

[Balance]

You are clutching mate. That was a response ages ago to another poster speculating about an imminent takeover.

Discussing theoretical buyouts is in no way the same as watching a random small movement of the stock price on any given day and trying to extract ‘meaning’ from it.

But you are so unbalanced in your views that the nonsense you spread doesn’t really surprise me anymore.

I can’t find a single valuable post from with that sheds any light on your understanding of the business.

You are only good for troll posts because you lack substance.

Writes MT who swings from swamp to sewage.

Yawn.

Sold out but bought back in the early $2.20s thanks to your fine efforts of posting nonsensical garbage after you sold out. Top effort, mate!


Looking forward to the results next week! :t_up:

[mistaTea]

Writes MT who swings from swamp to sewage.

Yawn.

Sold out but bought back in the early $2.20s thanks to your fine efforts of posting nonsensical garbage after you sold out. Top effort, mate!


Looking forward to the results next week! :t_up:

Yes I am looking forward to the results too.

I know Sophie is big on virtue signalling for the cuzzies and women…

But this new free to air re-branding is presumably positioned to virtue signal for the gays?

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2023/08/sky-tv-launches-new-free-to-air-channel-sky-open-to-replace-prime.amp.html

I just hope all the virtue signalling under the current leader doesn’t mean their eye is off the ball and prove to costly for shareholders.

[Azz]

Hi everyone. I would never buy this stock. I just wish to ask a couple of questions that you in this chat might know the answer to.

I am a [paid in advance yearly] subscriber to Sky Sport Now and also Neon, which I watch on my TV via a Windows laptop. Neon is fantastic, loads of shows, TV especially. Sky Sport Now, while it has a totally garbage user interface and still uses a "TV Guide" lol (everything that isn't live should be on-demand!!!!!), has the following which I watch as a form of addiction lol.

English Premier League
International rugby
Tennis majors
NFL
NRL
Aussie Rules

I could give up Neon (and probably will when it runs out).

But giving up those sports above is clearly difficult when the yearly subscription is so expensive - and yet I would rather go hungry than cancel.

1) Why the F%^$ does Sky need a physical device at all?

2) Wouldn't it make more sense for Sky to keep and control all those sports, and the other ones too, as their core business but spin off all the other stuff they "broadcast"?

[Azz]

In case that wasn't clear, I will probably cancel Neon to help pay for Sky Sport Now.

[mistaTea]

Hi everyone. I would never buy this stock. I just wish to ask a couple of questions that you in this chat might know the answer to.

I am a [paid in advance yearly] subscriber to Sky Sport Now and also Neon, which I watch on my TV via a Windows laptop. Neon is fantastic, loads of shows, TV especially. Sky Sport Now, while it has a totally garbage user interface and still uses a "TV Guide" lol (everything that isn't live should be on-demand!!!!!), has the following which I watch as a form of addiction lol.

English Premier League
International rugby
Tennis majors
NFL
NRL
Aussie Rules

I could give up Neon (and probably will when it runs out).

But giving up those sports above is clearly difficult when the yearly subscription is so expensive - and yet I would rather go hungry than cancel.

1) Why the F%^$ does Sky need a physical device at all?

2) Wouldn't it make more sense for Sky to keep and control all those sports, and the other ones too, as their core business but spin off all the other stuff they "broadcast"?

Good questions.

1. It’s a long story, and in 2023 I suspect they have missed the boat on this. Even if their new STB worked well it was unlikely to be a massive drawcard for new subs as customers have moved on (most just stream using apps, those non-sky customers who want a STB use devices from tech powerhouses like Apple).

Some backstory, around the time of the sky-Voda merger … sky was working on a new STB. It was the Cisco infinite video platform. This was just as NETFLIX was making major inroads, but there weren’t really any other big streamers at that time.

The idea was to secure sky’s position as the ‘aggregator of choice’ by providing a modern UI that pulled together sky content with 3rd party apps like nettlix and any other new ones that came online. Couple this with sky diversifying revenue by becoming a telco (merging with Voda) and hey presto! Future secured.

So the vodafone deal was rejected and John Fellet (long standing CEO at the time) resigned. They hired a new guy - Martin Stewart.

Martin wanted to shake things up, and one of the first things he did was cancel the infinite video project (this cost shareholders about $40M of sunk costs btw - so a very big call). His argument was that MYSKY costumers were ‘well served’ (well, the majority of them are old and unlikely to cancel anyway) and that he wanted to focus on building our world class streaming services. I certainly agreed with the need for big upgrades to NEON and FANPASS (predecessor to sky sport now).

FANPASS was a dog that only allowed you to stream sky sport 1-4 and there was no on demand content (or very little from memory). So even though SSN is still a bit sh1te as a platform compared to Spark sport - it is leagues ahead of what was there before. They seem to have stopped innovating in this space and I agree that it is not great that it is linear based.

For NEON, Martin purchased Spark’s LIGHTBOX and rebranded it to NEON. Once again, sparks tech way better than sky’s so this was a big improvement.

However, like SSN the innovating for NEON seems to have stopped.

In the meantime, somewhere along the line about 18 months or so after canning the Cisco project someone at sky decided they did need a new STB after all! So let’s begin a brand new project from scratch!

And let’s make the new box a hybrid satellite/IP product so that any box we buy will require customisation (i.e be expensive) even though this new box is unlikely to drive any growth!

Anyway, I could go on about more background etc - but in terms of your question … do they need a new STB? There is an argument that they should. If they could land the right product that aggregated content from third party providers with their own content in a user friendly UI then they could maintain some relevance long term. But to do that they should just have an IP box - and one that works!

With the innovations coming from Apple TV and others though I suspect sky are just way too late now. Entering the party so late, and with a box that doesn’t work is just terrible.

2. Sky don’t control anything - they just rent content. The business mode relies on the ‘power of the bundle’. Outdated now, but if sky got out of everything else except sport … they would have to charge a lot more for their sports bundle than they do now because they don’t have any other ‘hooks’ to get subs to pay for more (and therefore cross subsidise the sport offering).

Sport is a significant part of their customer base, but the majority of their subscribers have some form of entertainment service or bundle - so that would be a big call (and the wrong call imo).

[mikelee]

I wouldn't call the "bundle" model outdated necessary, it just has to evolve to cater to demand. Considering that even industry giants like Disney & NetFlix struggles with high production cost, an intermediary could come in, cut a good deal and then on sell to people who rather not bother with multiple subscriptions.

[mistaTea]

I wouldn't call the "bundle" model outdated necessary, it just has to evolve to cater to demand. Considering that even industry giants like Disney & NetFlix struggles with high production cost, an intermediary could come in, cut a good deal and then on sell to people who rather not bother with multiple subscriptions.

Yes you are right. I should be more clear by stating that I think the bundle itself is not outdated, but the largely linear channel bundle model is.

Ultimately even the individual streaming services will do better as part of a ‘bundle’, for sure.

So, Spark have an exclusive deal with NETFLIX to bundle their serviced with broadband.

2D have a deal with Amazon.

It will be interesting to see what (if anything) One NZ do now that they no longer have vodafone tv.

Sky have a (costly) deal with Disney to offer Disney+ as a hook for broadband. They don’t offer it as an ongoing service though because it would cost too much (and they are trying to offer STB customers discounted internet).

Ultimately they will want to have wholesale deals with as many streamers as they can so that they can offer additional ‘bundles’ to their STB customers (the whole point - I think - of investing in a new box).

But until they can actually provide a box they firstly actually works and then is able to have wider appeal then this project is just another expensive exercise.

If they are only ever able to convert existing MySky subs to the new box then where is the gain for shareholders? Most of the MySky subs would not have canceled anyway (evidenced by the low churn rates we have seen in the last couple of years).

[LaserEyeKiwi]

I dont see any point in an intermediary forming OTT bundles. Much more likely the OTT services work directly with each other rather than including an unnecessary middle man.

I have no idea why Sky doesn’t offer a NEON/SSN bundle though.

[mistaTea]

I dont see any point in an intermediary forming OTT bundles. Much more likely the OTT services work directly with each other rather than including an unnecessary middle man.

I have no idea why Sky doesn’t offer a NEON/SSN bundle though.

Yeah, you may well be right about the third party bundling. But if that is not a viable option then all this money spent on creating a new box is wasted. They would have been better off sticking to Martin’s plan of super charging streaming services while letting the (reasonably stable) STB base fund the transition.

Yes, bizarre that there is no NEON/SSN bundle. I also would have thought they would offer discounted broadband as part some streaming packages too.

And I would also have thought that a Sky GO only option would be on the cards.

Annual Report will be interesting so we can find out what Sky’s Big Plan is for the future.

[Azz]

Good questions.

1. It’s a long story, and in 2023 I suspect they have missed the boat on this. Even if their new STB worked well it was unlikely to be a massive drawcard for new subs as customers have moved on (most just stream using apps, those non-sky customers who want a STB use devices from tech powerhouses like Apple).

Some backstory, around the time of the sky-Voda merger … sky was working on a new STB. It was the Cisco infinite video platform. This was just as NETFLIX was making major inroads, but there weren’t really any other big streamers at that time.

The idea was to secure sky’s position as the ‘aggregator of choice’ by providing a modern UI that pulled together sky content with 3rd party apps like nettlix and any other new ones that came online. Couple this with sky diversifying revenue by becoming a telco (merging with Voda) and hey presto! Future secured.

So the vodafone deal was rejected and John Fellet (long standing CEO at the time) resigned. They hired a new guy - Martin Stewart.

Martin wanted to shake things up, and one of the first things he did was cancel the infinite video project (this cost shareholders about $40M of sunk costs btw - so a very big call). His argument was that MYSKY costumers were ‘well served’ (well, the majority of them are old and unlikely to cancel anyway) and that he wanted to focus on building our world class streaming services. I certainly agreed with the need for big upgrades to NEON and FANPASS (predecessor to sky sport now).

FANPASS was a dog that only allowed you to stream sky sport 1-4 and there was no on demand content (or very little from memory). So even though SSN is still a bit sh1te as a platform compared to Spark sport - it is leagues ahead of what was there before. They seem to have stopped innovating in this space and I agree that it is not great that it is linear based.

For NEON, Martin purchased Spark’s LIGHTBOX and rebranded it to NEON. Once again, sparks tech way better than sky’s so this was a big improvement.

However, like SSN the innovating for NEON seems to have stopped.

In the meantime, somewhere along the line about 18 months or so after canning the Cisco project someone at sky decided they did need a new STB after all! So let’s begin a brand new project from scratch!

And let’s make the new box a hybrid satellite/IP product so that any box we buy will require customisation (i.e be expensive) even though this new box is unlikely to drive any growth!

Anyway, I could go on about more background etc - but in terms of your question … do they need a new STB? There is an argument that they should. If they could land the right product that aggregated content from third party providers with their own content in a user friendly UI then they could maintain some relevance long term. But to do that they should just have an IP box - and one that works!

With the innovations coming from Apple TV and others though I suspect sky are just way too late now. Entering the party so late, and with a box that doesn’t work is just terrible.

2. Sky don’t control anything - they just rent content. The business mode relies on the ‘power of the bundle’. Outdated now, but if sky got out of everything else except sport … they would have to charge a lot more for their sports bundle than they do now because they don’t have any other ‘hooks’ to get subs to pay for more (and therefore cross subsidise the sport offering).

Sport is a significant part of their customer base, but the majority of their subscribers have some form of entertainment service or bundle - so that would be a big call (and the wrong call imo).

Thank you for that extensive post.

[LaserEyeKiwi]

Honestly the amount they are spending on CapEx for the new Sky box is beyond stupid. All that cash going up in smoke for something that could have been done as a zero cost app for SmartTV/AppleTV/Chromecast.

[Moneyman]

Double the divided by FY26…. That’s 30cps, if they achieve that current shareholders will be very happy!

[Leemsip]

Honestly the amount they are spending on CapEx for the new Sky box is beyond stupid. All that cash going up in smoke for something that could have been done as a zero cost app for SmartTV/AppleTV/Chromecast.

Wow $70m capex! Jesus christ

[mistaTea]

Double the divided by FY26…. That’s 30cps, if they achieve that current shareholders will be very happy!

Results in line with expectations I think - EBITDA down 12% and FCF only $17M.

30cps divvy would be about $43M payout. That assumes the market stays ‘stable’ and they can significantly cut back on R&D CAPEX and coast along.

SP has not exactly leapt up on the back of the bribe - too much uncertainty.

Great to see solid growth in SSN continuing, especially since NEON growth is slowing down.

SSN has a lot more room for growth.

Bit of a worry that STB attrition increased again.

Last year they lost 25K STB subs. This year they lost 31K subs (but managed to migrate 17K VTV customers). All on page 9 of the presso.

Holding onto VTV subs with various bribes is all good and well, but the fact is you actually lost 6K more of your core MYSKY subs than you did the year before.

I appreciate they want to show their numbers in the best possible light but I do think there is a lot of artistic license with the way some of this stuff is presented!

[Azz]

Wow $70m capex! Jesus christ

Wow alright lol....

[Entrep]

Wow $70m capex! Jesus christ

https://media.giphy.com/media/YJjvTqoRFgZaM/giphy.gif

[mistaTea]

Even with the promise/bribe of a double divvy in the future. Possibly. Maybe.

Market has responded with a 1% increase in valuation on low volumes.

Wow alright.

[Baa_Baa]

Looking at short term price movements as an ‘explanation’ for anything is asinine.

………….. good results increasing dividends, soon enough will have paid off the capital invested. Oh wait, you have to be invested for that 😂

[mistaTea]

………….. good results increasing dividends, soon enough will have paid off the capital invested. Oh wait, you have to be invested for that 😂

Good luck Waa_Waa!

[Balance]

Good luck Waa_Waa!

Thanks for the downramping, MT - got reset back at the $2.20s and I am happy with the results.

Solid results - increased dividends, share buyback to kick in and more upside in the year ahead.

[mistaTea]

Thanks for the downramping, MT - got reset back at the $2.20s and I am happy with the results.

Solid results - increased dividends, share buyback to kick in and more upside in the year ahead.

My pleasure unbalanced!

I have a lot of power over the market! I am glad you are finally showing me the awe/respect I deserve!

[Balance]

My pleasure unbalanced!

I have a lot of power over the market! I am glad you are finally showing me the awe/respect I deserve!

No sweat and no problem - credit to where credit is due.

I just checked and my reset price is $2.20! Great eh?

As for awe/respect, even a broken clock is right twice a day!

[mistaTea]

No sweat and no problem - credit to where credit is due.

As for awe/respect, even a broken clock is right twice a day!

Dude. Did we just become best friends?

[Balance]

Dude. Did we just become best friends?

Never become emotional - it clouds judgement.

[mistaTea]

Never become emotional - it clouds judgement.

I’m going to take that as a no!

[Azz]

I’m going to take that as a no!

Take it! You dodged a bullet, mistaTea! :-)

[Moneyman]

Does anyone know when the buyback restarts?

[Sideshow Bob]

Does anyone know when the buyback restarts?

No, but have used $4.5m out of $15m total available and have until 31st of March to complete it.

Probably suffering today due to ex-div date but a boost to the share price seems needed.

[Moneyman]

Still no commencement of the buyback, does that imply something is going on behind the scenes? Also still no permanent CFO announced…

[RTM]

No, but have used $4.5m out of $15m total available and have until 31st of March to complete it.

Probably suffering today due to ex-div date but a boost to the share price seems needed.

Why is a boost to the SP needed ?
Surely buying back at lower prices is better for the company…and so also shareholders ?

[errornz]

Still no commencement of the buyback, does that imply something is going on behind the scenes? Also still no permanent CFO announced…


Acquisition.

[Marilyn Munroe]

A Mexican standoff between Disney and an American cable TV distributor has been resolved with commentators giving the cable company a win on points.

This may or may not give some insight into the jostling for Kiwi eyeballs taking place between online subscription services offered by content creators and Sky.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/business/media/disney-charter-agreement-cable.html

Boop boop de do
Mariyn

[LaserEyeKiwi]

A Mexican standoff between Disney and an American cable TV distributor has been resolved with commentators giving the cable company a win on points.

This may or may not give some insight into the jostling for Kiwi eyeballs taking place between online subscription services offered by content creators and Sky.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/business/media/disney-charter-agreement-cable.html

Boop boop de do
Mariyn

this was purely about ESPN, where the distributor didnt want to pay disneys increased pricing to carry ESPN without also getting other content. Not really a factor here in NZ where the distributor (Sky) already has the major sport content itself, and where Disney earns almost nothing from ESPN on Sky.

[mistaTea]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/tvnz-tightens-its-belt-amid-advertising-revenue-slump-cuts-pay-rises-programmes/JS3EQJ7UANG4BGKJHVSP43A2YY/

Nothing to worry about.

[errornz]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/tvnz-tightens-its-belt-amid-advertising-revenue-slump-cuts-pay-rises-programmes/JS3EQJ7UANG4BGKJHVSP43A2YY/

Nothing to worry about.



I know you must be a little salty because you were a bag holder for so long, but you need to let go. Like OG, I don't think you are mentally well.

Whenever you think you have found some negative news, your confirmation bias kicks in, and you must post it. It's just sad to read your posts, mate.

Linking a story about TVNZ is bottom-of-the-barrel stuff.

I believe the share price is still up slightly from where you sold, and since you have sold, we have all had some nice dividends.

A lot of us, including myself, have an average of the mid $1's. So we are up some decent gains while getting a nice dividend every once in a while.

Im looking forward to getting another few thousand this week. Will buy me something nice and be thinking of you.... Boomer Bag Holder.

[mistaTea]

I know you must be a little salty because you were a bag holder for so long, but you need to let go. Like OG, I don't think you are mentally well.

Whenever you think you have found some negative news, your confirmation bias kicks in, and you must post it. It's just sad to read your posts, mate.

Linking a story about TVNZ is bottom-of-the-barrel stuff.

I believe the share price is still up slightly from where you sold, and since you have sold, we have all had some nice dividends.

A lot of us, including myself, have an average of the mid $1's. So we are up some decent gains while getting a nice dividend every once in a while.

Im looking forward to getting another few thousand this week. Will buy me something nice and be thinking of you.... Boomer Bag Holder.

But I said it was nothing to worry about.

[errornz]

But I said it was nothing to worry about.

You are right. Sky’s advertising revenue will be up this quarter. RWC and NRL. Up the Wahhs!!!

[Baa_Baa]

I know you must be a little salty because you were a bag holder for so long, but you need to let go. Like OG, I don't think you are mentally well.

Whenever you think you have found some negative news, your confirmation bias kicks in, and you must post it. It's just sad to read your posts, mate.

Linking a story about TVNZ is bottom-of-the-barrel stuff.

I believe the share price is still up slightly from where you sold, and since you have sold, we have all had some nice dividends.

A lot of us, including myself, have an average of the mid $1's. So we are up some decent gains while getting a nice dividend every once in a while.

Im looking forward to getting another few thousand this week. Will buy me something nice and be thinking of you.... Boomer Bag Holder.

Nice, you're right about most of this imo, we've enjoyed the turnaround strategy working and the returns to dividends and a buy-back (that hasn't completed). A buyin in the low-mid teens post consolidation has worked well so far.

But you're not right about the multi year shill getting a multi-bagger, he didn't, he confessed to selling at a loss after years of shilling the stock when in a severe downtrend and freaking out, selling at a loss as soon as the company turned around and the market agreed he was wrong to sell!

My few thousand dividends will be well received as well. But I won't be thinking about the losers who pumped this the whole way down (buying more and more for no reason) and freaked out when it finally turned.

Credibility, they have none. Investment advice, no credibility either.

The internet has a long memory, it is an inescapable record of who was right and who was not right. On SKT, the record is set in stone.

[Balance]

Nice, you're right about most of this imo, we've enjoyed the turnaround strategy working and the returns to dividends and a buy-back (that hasn't completed). A buyin in the low-mid teens post consolidation has worked well so far.

But you're not right about the multi year shill getting a multi-bagger, he didn't, he confessed to selling at a loss after years of shilling the stock when in a severe downtrend and freaking out, selling at a loss as soon as the company turned around and the market agreed he was wrong to sell!

My few thousand dividends will be well received as well. But I won't be thinking about the losers who pumped this the whole way down (buying more and more for no reason) and freaked out when it finally turned.

Credibility, they have none. Investment advice, no credibility either.

The internet has a long memory, it is an inescapable record of who was right and who was not right. On SKT, the record is set in stone.

Sp is ex 9c fully imputed dividend and performing well.

Share buyback yet to kick in and this will provide support.

Thanks again to MT & Ogg for their fine efforts - I got back in at around $2.10.

Yummy!!!!! :t_up:

[Entrep]

I got back in at around $2.10.


So you sold while calling for $2.80?

[LaserEyeKiwi]

(Never mind)
https://www.sharetrader.co.nz/blob:https://www.sharetrader.co.nz/9593a2ff-cce5-4b03-808d-cf11eb85f21a

[mistaTea]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/sky-tv-decoder-smokes-flame-seen-in-auckland-teachers-home/DEEE3247LRHOXLOXXHIMHXWRNI/

I guess it’s true that where there is smoke, there is fire!

[LaserEyeKiwi]

I feel like after watching the RWC coverage that they need to rename the company TEMU TV.

Hopefully they got a lot of money from that advertising deal.

[mistaTea]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/us-stream-tv-giant-enters-nz-market-top-magazine-may-be-sold-paddy-gower-my-debate-highlight-media-council-ruling-on-prince-harry-lip-reader-media-insider/VIFNSU7XXRBAVHMHOOVYLGCEM4/

NBCUniversal going OTT in NZ.

I wonder when Max will launch?

[moimoi]

Does anyone have any insight as to why the buyback has been stalled since the end of May..?

GLTA.

[thebusinessman]

Does anyone have any insight as to why the buyback has been stalled since the end of May..?

GLTA.

There aren't many conclusions to draw except that there must be something material going on which would halt their ability to buyback... Otherwise they should be gladly buying shares at 20c less than their last purchases.

[Entrep]

There aren't many conclusions to draw except that there must be something material going on which would halt their ability to buyback... Otherwise they should be gladly buying shares at 20c less than their last purchases.

Watch out for MediaWorks 2.0

[RTM]

There aren't many conclusions to draw except that there must be something material going on which would halt their ability to buyback... Otherwise they should be gladly buying shares at 20c less than their last purchases.

Perhaps they know that there is a bad result on the way and that the price they have to pay is likely to be even lower.

[thebusinessman]

Perhaps they know that there is a bad result on the way and that the price they have to pay is likely to be even lower.

Cynical ;)

[Balance]

There aren't many conclusions to draw except that there must be something material going on which would halt their ability to buyback... Otherwise they should be gladly buying shares at 20c less than their last purchases.

Where did you get the 20c less?

Get the facts right and you may start making sense!

[thebusinessman]

Where did you get the 20c less?

Get the facts right and you may start making sense!

Calm down, son.

SP was 2.45 when I posted that, and they most they paid was $2.65.

[Entrep]

https://i.imgflip.com/820i40.jpg

[Balance]

Calm down, son.

SP was 2.45 when I posted that, and they most they paid was $2.65.

They paid on average $2.60 which was cum 9c fully imputed dividend, so call it $2.51.

[RTM]

Question: our satellite dish packed up a while ago, so everything we are now watching is streamed via Apple TV.
This includes Sky Sport Now.

Do I need to get it fixed ?
Are there things on Freeview/ free to air that we simply can’t get streaming ?

Streaming quality is good, fibre etc.
Other than not being able to record stuff, we don’t seem to be suffering at all.
But are we missing out on anything ?

Look forward to your ideas.

[kiora]

Freeview TV guide

https://freeviewnz.tv/tvguide/whats-on/?date=10%2f14%2f2023+00%3a00%3a00&st=

If there is no dish can stream Freeview using

https://freeviewnz.tv/stream-freeview/buy-smartvu-x/

[Sideshow Bob]

Here is the reason for no buyback recommencement........

https://www.nzx.com/announcements/419908

Sky pauses Share Buyback – Non Binding Indicative Offer received

On 31 March 2023 Sky Network Television Limited (Sky) announced an on-market share buyback programme. As contemplated by that announcement, Sky paused purchases under the programme prior to release of its full-year results on 24 August 2023.

Prior to expiry of the black out period during which the buyback programme was paused, Sky received a highly conditional, non-binding preliminary expression of interest from a third party to acquire all of the shares in Sky (NBIO).

Sky has commenced engagement with the potential acquirer, although discussions are at a very early stage. As such, there can be no certainty that any transaction will eventuate. Given it is a highly preliminary, incomplete and confidential proposal, Sky is only disclosing receipt of the NBIO at this time in response to enquiries as to the current status of the buyback programme, and, subject to its continuous disclosure obligations, does not propose to make any further comment at this stage.

In these circumstances, the board has continued the pause in Sky’s share buyback programme since release of the full-year results on 24 August 2023. Sky will confirm any recommencement of the buyback programme in due course.
ENDS

[Gerald]

Not price sensitive... Either a mistake or they are saying the offer is pretty spurious.

[Sideshow Bob]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/133112999/sky-tv-receives-takeover-offer-but-doesnt-request-trading-halt

[Balance]

[QUOTE=Gerald;1025668]Not price sensitive... Either a mistake or they are saying the offer is pretty spurious.[/QUOT

I understand Sky is responding to queries from several shareholders as to the status of the share buyback - so need to disclose why.

Offer is highly conditional and confidential & at a preliminary stage - nothing to get too excited about (yet).

[mistaTea]

Not price sensitive... Either a mistake or they are saying the offer is pretty spurious.

Very interesting making an announcement when discussions are so early that a trading halt is not needed.

Maybe Sky trying to inflate the SP to either make this mystery buyer cough up more money (great outcome for shareholders) or they want to torpedo the deal.

They were not required to tell the market anything yet. How would you feel if you were the buyer?

[Balance]

Very interesting making an announcement when discussions are so early that a trading halt is not needed.

Maybe Sky trying to inflate the SP to either make this mystery buyer cough up more money (great outcome for shareholders) or they want to torpedo the deal.

They were not required to tell the market anything yet. How would you feel if you were the buyer?

This is you this morning?

https://media0.giphy.com/media/ro5J9EwEFIBlC/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47ncbifii9yiafxzbeimm77tlkhq89 cd1tlt2osp03&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

[Jasemc]

Price sensitive now!

[mistaTea]

Price sensitive now!

So now they are in a trading halt?

What a fiasco.

[Balance]

So now they are in a trading halt?

What a fiasco.

Sort of fiasco we LOVE!

[winner69]

Sort of fiasco we LOVE!

Might even get 5 bucks eh Balance

[sb9]

Might even get 5 bucks eh Balance

Gotta hv at least 3 in front of the offer.

[Muse]

AFR reporting Sky has brought Jarden back as its adviser after receiving a NBIO from an international bidder, the later who has hired Rothchild to advise.

A bit comical the way Sky slipped in the NBIO announcement this AM and that it wasn't marked price sensitive.

[errornz]

Acquisition.

Called it.

[Leemsip]

Called it.

legend. But did you load up on shares?
This is my 3rd biggest holding!!! stoked. $3.50 would be a nice price

[Balance]

Called it.

Really?

Thought you were calling for Sky to acquire something, not for Sky to be acquired.

[errornz]

legend. But did you load up on shares?
This is my 3rd biggest holding!!! stoked. $3.50 would be a nice price

Close to 30k shares at a average of 1.5

[Leemsip]

nice work that. I also have a bunch, but no profit on them yet average price is $2.50. Was relying on the buy back to take them up to $3ish....

[errornz]

Really?

Thought you were calling for Sky to acquire something, not for Sky to be acquired.

Sky know better then to acquire something. They don’t need a media works 2.0

[Sideshow Bob]

https://www.nzx.com/announcements/419955

We are back on.....

[Sideshow Bob]

$2.85

Nice little lift on a Friday lunchtime......

[Leemsip]

https://www.nzx.com/announcements/419955

We are back on.....

$2.85 @ the open. An insult. A slur on this fine company. Disgusting behaviour

[Sideshow Bob]

$2.85 @ the open. An insult. A slur on this fine company. Disgusting behaviour

A Fine Company?? It is Sky TV!! :p

[Vitamin_A]

Even applying an incredibly conservative multiple (3.0x EV/EBITDA) and taking account of the mountain of cash on the balance sheet, 100% of the company is worth north of $4.00 per share. It trades at a huge discount to this so I'd expect any offer for 100% of the shares would still have to be well into the $3's per share.

[Balance]

A Fine Company?? It is Sky TV!! :p

Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder.

[Leemsip]

based on absolutely no research or inside knowledge or on any facts, I would like to start a rumour the bidder is IFT and that many people (good people) close to the deal are saying $3.50 has been discussed + a special dividend to current holders.

[errornz]

OG you out there? We need a Nicholas Cage meme.

[Leemsip]

Even applying an incredibly conservative multiple (3.0x EV/EBITDA) and taking account of the mountain of cash on the balance sheet, 100% of the company is worth north of $4.00 per share. It trades at a huge discount to this so I'd expect any offer for 100% of the shares would still have to be well into the $3's per share.

I like this as it leaves room to be upset with the SKT board at almost any conceivable price. Need Vit A on the negotiation team.

[Toddy]

The market has priced in an offer around $3 based on the current sp and volumes going through.

[Leemsip]

The market has priced in an offer around $3 based on the current sp and volumes going through.

Guy I know in Jarden said $3.50 + divi

[Toddy]

Guy I know in Jarden said $3.50 + divi

Did he mention any names... Ift

[Entrep]

Price action and the fact they weren't even going to inform the market tells me nothing will come of this.

Happy to be proven wrong.

[mistaTea]

Guy I know in Jarden said $3.50 + divi

Your mate needs to pursue a new career path if he thinks someone will pay half a billion dollars plus a dividend for sky tv.

If the indicative offer during prelim discussions were anywhere near that even Sophie and bowman wouldn’t be incompetent enough to botch things by making an announcement today.

[Balance]

Guy I know in Jarden said $3.50 + divi

They are advising Sky so that will be the target price they are aiming to get for shareholders.

Plenty of upside and it’s no wonder that there’s actually reasonable buying volume today on the announcement.

[errornz]

Your mate needs to pursue a new career path if he thinks someone will pay half a billion dollars plus a dividend for sky tv.

If the indicative offer during prelim discussions were anywhere near that even Sophie and bowman wouldn’t be incompetent enough to botch things by making an announcement today.


Bet yah wish you didn't sell. Shame.

[Balance]

Bet yah wish you didn't sell. Shame.

Not only sell but made a loss when selling!

Ouch!


Ouch!

[snigmac]

I have no idea what the indicative offer will be, but I doubt it will be more than 15% of the average share price (from the last last six months).

In all fairness, Mista Tea was on the button (more often than not) and he did predict what is now unfolding.

Good job to all current holders, hope you make a profit :).

[Baa_Baa]

In all fairness, Mista Tea was on the button (more often than not) and he did predict what is now unfolding.

Good job to all current holders, hope you make a profit :).

Yes that's fair, he was definitely onto it and developed quite a following with some people around here and no doubt quite a few lurkers, very knowledgable, almost uncannily knowledgeable about Sky's business and the circumstances surrounding that.

As an investor though he ended up lacking conviction in his own analysis and sold out at a loss, which as time has gone by has been proven to be a terrible investing decision, after years of accumulating a downtrend and then freaking out and selling as soon as it looked like things were turning for the better. Which they have.

Some people did their own analysis and backed their own conviction and timing an entry, that Sky were indeed executing on their turnaround strategy, which they did do and continue to do, returning to profit and dividends to shareholders, improving EPS with buybacks, are sitting on 50+% capital gains (on paper) not including dividends paid out so far.

This takeover is unlikely to proceed imo unless the potential acquirer puts an irresistible offer on the table for shareholders, in which case the upside for shareholders would just be brought forward from what we expect will happen anyway, with the downside that the longer term future of our investment returns would be curtailed.

[mikelee]

If TD rates remain 5%+ then a take over would not hurt so much, as I'll still be able to retire comfortably on my current holding, so long as I can pocket min $3/sp LOL.

[Baa_Baa]

If TD rates remain 5%+ then a take over would not hurt so much, as I'll still be able to retire comfortably on my current holding, so long as I can pocket min $3/sp LOL.

Well there you go, another potentially very successful investment, I hope it works out for you. Mine isn't quite so profound that I can retire on it alone, but at currently 27% p.a. return, it's a lot better than money in the bank!

[Baa_Baa]

Another thing lost on some of the previous and some current investors is the constant slagging of the Chair, the Board, the CEO and the management.

But if you put on the lens of their 'timing' of their own investing in SKT and their obvious confidence in doing so, you'll see that they were way smarter than has been given credit for. Whether or not the company gets bought out, or not, they're all well in the money.

Never slag an insiders investment in the company they work for, more-so look at the timing of their investment and ask yourself, 'why would an insider put so much of their own cash into the company right now?' 'What do they know that I don't'.

Common investment thesis is that you can't 'time the market', I say BS to that! Just look for the signs, and don't be blindsided by people who would rather heap negative sentiment on them like they're incompetent and don't have any idea what they're doing.

They do know what they're doing, they know way more than we do about the company, and they're backing it with their own money! Timing, is everything. Insider investments is a very good indicator. Insiders have a significant stake in the outcomes of SKT, it's their own money that they're investing.

Why would they do that, and why would they do that when they did it? Think about it.

[moimoi]

So the Board and Management decided that the offer to takeover the company was sufficiently formed for them to decide to stop the buyback from the first day after the full year results announcement in August.

And yet...

Not sufficiently formed to advise ALL of the company owners that an "offer" to takeover the company had been made.

Instead saying nothing and apparently deciding that the "from time to time" wording of the 31st of March Announcement was the reason as to why the previously stated buyback was paused, and deciding that that meant they didn't have to say anything about pausing the buyback.

We are implored to invest in the sharemarket to steer us away from the over reliance on property investment in this country and we are encouraged by the spouting of the supposed requirement for listed entities to provide continuous disclosure. Time after time black and white evidence appears that confirms continuous disclosure is a crock.

Also quite bewildering is that the company secretary belatedly makes an announcement re pausing the buyback, giving the reason of a potential buyout, and decides that isn't price sensitive.

[mistaTea]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/lunch-with-sky-tv-ceo-sophie-moloney/7JHYCSAKEBDYNND6RD23JRK56E/

Fluff piece on Sophie.

Very sad news about her brother. I lost someone to cancer recently too, and understand the grief.

NZR the big deal everyone watching now. If they go co-exclusive it will clearly be cheaper than going exclusive…but not as much cheaper as Sophie and the team might like to think.

It’s a damn difficult position to be in, quite frankly.

[SailorRob]

Common investment thesis is that you can't 'time the market', I say BS to that! Just look for the signs, and don't be blindsided by people who would rather heap negative sentiment on them like they're incompetent and don't have any idea what they're doing.


With respect BaaBaa, 'timing the market' and what you are referring to are two totally different things. Doing what you are highlighting is buying a company at the right price and for the right reasons such as insider activity and what not. But this isn't what 'timing the market' means.

If anyone could indeed have any tiny edge timing the market, they could just get in and out of the NZ50 or SP500 at the right time, even one trade a year, and then beat those respective indexes. You'd soon have a pretty big kiwisaver fund...

Timing when to buy an individual company is a totally different matter altogether.

[Moneyman]

How long does it take to agree a price and terms…

[Marilyn Munroe]

An article on Stuff behind the paywall with only the opening paragraph visible is speculating Silver Lake the outfit who brought into the NZRU is the mysterious suitor for SKT.

https://www.thepress.co.nz/a/business/350094471/silver-lake-not-saying-whether-it-could-be-behind-sky-tv-play

Boop boop de do
Marilyn

[mistaTea]

An article on Stuff behind the paywall with only the opening paragraph visible is speculating Silver Lake the outfit who brought into the NZRU is the mysterious suitor for SKT.

https://www.thepress.co.nz/a/business/350094471/silver-lake-not-saying-whether-it-could-be-behind-sky-tv-play

Boop boop de do
Marilyn

Let’s see.

But I would have thought SL is unlikely given the Regulatory headwinds they would face.

[Habits]

My neighbour watches Sky Open where games are broadcast for free, while I subscribe to SSN paying hundreds per year. May as well cancel my sub if the eventual suitor lets this freebie stay

[Sideshow Bob]

Sky Box sh@t itself during the All Black/Ireland match the other weekend (thankfully could still watch, otherwise......). Burning smell and the hard drive is gone - so no recording, no pausing, almost impossible to use the planner etc.

Wife has been dealing with Sky, and mostly have been reasonably OK/good, except that we still waiting for a replacement. Part of the delay is that the old box has been 'discontinued' and on to the new box. So they had to get approval to send out a new box.

Have a bit of trepidation given the reviews. Said here I wasn't going to pay for the new box and little interest in it, but ended up with one anyway......:mellow:

Will report in once it finally turns up (we chose to self-install) and can use it.

[blackcap]

Sky Box sh@t itself during the All Black/Ireland match the other weekend (thankfully could still watch, otherwise......). Burning smell and the hard drive is gone - so no recording, no pausing, almost impossible to use the planner etc.

Wife has been dealing with Sky, and mostly have been reasonably OK/good, except that we still waiting for a replacement. Part of the delay is that the old box has been 'discontinued' and on to the new box. So they had to get approval to send out a new box.

Have a bit of trepidation given the reviews. Said here I wasn't going to pay for the new box and little interest in it, but ended up with one anyway......:mellow:

Will report in once it finally turns up (we chose to self-install) and can use it.

So glad I still have the old box. That said, I still have the subscription too which is inertia on my part...