SKT Sky Network Television Limited.

[thebusinessman]

Pretty sure the buyback must stop a month out from a reporting period so no buying in December. It also provides an opportunity for the bidder to come back with no disclosure needed…

Moneyman is correct, this is from Sky:

Thanks for taking the time to get in touch.

Sky’s Securities Trading Policy includes a blackout period of 30 days prior to the half and full year balance dates (Link to policy). As a result, on Monday’ 4th of December we advised that we’d bought back some shares on Friday 1st and this was our last repurchase before entering the half year blackout period. The blackout period ends on the day after Sky reports results, although in practice many companies resume buying a few day’s later to allow the market time to settle.

We’ve reviewed the blackout practices of other companies in our market, and while some take effect from the actual half and full year balance dates (rather than before), we found that our existing policy is in line with the majority of companies – actually a number have much stricter policies/practices.

[errornz]

Share price is holding up nicely, with out the buy backs propping it up.

[mistaTea]

More consolidation - Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount in merger talks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67782869

[errornz]

https://www.nzx.com/announcements/425050

[thebusinessman]

A friend who has Neon was annoyed that the new pricing model has some ads on when he pauses the show. He pays the mid-tier, so no other ads, but there is an ad-supported basic tier now.

I agreed with him that it is annoying, you're paying $20 a month so it's a bit of a light slap in the face to be advertised to, and then I remembered something: HBO Max, or now just Max, also recently moved to an ad-supported basic package, and their next tier up also has completely skippable ads and on pause. So I did a little digging...

Turns out the basic Neon plan didn't used to be full HD streaming, but now it is with the ads to support it. Full HD streaming with ads is also a feature of the Max basic plan...

Look I'm no merger mastermind, and it could just be the industry offering similar packages, but it's a nice time to stoke the Warner takeover fires! We're being lined up for assimilation.

[RTM]

https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcas...=1000641878026

Disc: Holder

[mistaTea]

https://www.streamtvinsider.com/vide...int-tv-viewing

I still mostly use my Apple TV box, but I actually don't 'need' it as our Sony Bravia is really good.

In fact it has a big advantage over the Apple TV in that is does a better job of surfacing content from multiple services to the Home Page. And it has smarts to surface content I am more likely going to want to watch based on viewing history.

It can currently recommend content from Amazon Prime, Disney+, YOUTUBE and TVNZ+.

Apple 'sort of' does a bit of this in the Apple TV+ view, but not as good.

With regards to Sky, it will be interesting to see how much more pressure is put on their STB subs over the next year or two. Price increases obviously won't help, but also the recognition that any STB is not necessary for most people now.

Sky Sport NOW should still see some big increases in subs though. Just half the ARPU of a STB customer which isn't ideal.

I note that Apple also have a Pay TV Provider option whereby in some jurisdictions, you can link to your Pay TV Provider from within the Apple Universe.

As the transition to streaming continues to be thrust upon Sky, I wonder if this is something they will try tap into. Quite a few countries offer this including the UK, USA, Canada and Ireland.

[xafalcon]

Interesting comments from NZ Cricket.

- viewership has increased on FTA
- attendance at games has increased
- NZC would not be averse to accepting a lower broadcast fee if cricket remained on FTA

I assume this means that NZC is getting significantly greater returns from sponsorship and game attendance when on FTA compared to broadcast on sky tv

I have made this linkage between FTA, game popularity (viewship, game attendance, public engagement) and total revenue back to the game several times, but in regards to the falling revenues that NZ rugby has been experiencing

Sky TV might not get NZC business back at the bargain basement price they were expecting, and might not get it back at all

[LaserEyeKiwi]

Interesting comments from NZ Cricket.

- viewership has increased on FTA
- attendance at games has increased
- NZC would not be averse to accepting a lower broadcast fee if cricket remained on FTA

I assume this means that NZC is getting significantly greater returns from sponsorship and game attendance when on FTA compared to broadcast on sky tv

I have made this linkage between FTA, game popularity (viewship, game attendance, public engagement) and total revenue back to the game several times, but in regards to the falling revenues that NZ rugby has been experiencing

Sky TV might not get NZC business back at the bargain basement price they were expecting, and might not get it back at all

Not surprised at all. Plus cricket is uniquely suited to still be very profitable for FTA broadcasters given the huge amount of ad breaks possible, after every over, it’s amazing - you can fit in 100 in-game ad breaks in a 50 over a side cricket match. This is versus precisely zero in-game ad breaks in a live rugby game.

also, in regards to not being able to compete with overseas salaries for NZ cricket players, it has turned from being a big negative (players used to retire early from playing internationally to go play county cricket in England), into a big positive (players want to play international ODIs & T20s to get higher auction valuations in the Indian premier league) - so NZ cricket now has comparatively cheap player contract costs as it isn’t seen as the main compensation for our best players (who earn 5-10x more than there NZ cricket contract by playing IPL a few months a year).

[errornz]

You guys think they will do a buy back extension on its buy back program? Not a lot of time between its earning call and the end date for the buy back.