SKT Sky Network Television Limited.

[silverblizzard888]

A desperate move by SKY, but a necessary and smart move. Though can't keep giving away 5% each time you need to renew your rights.
At the end of the day subscriber numbers will continue to drop, their cost are going up and Spark Sport is going to keep attacking from all directions.
Nice gain today for those that picked up shares last week. For the current holders you better hope this isn't the last smart move SKY has under their sleeves.

[mistaTea]

Do those figures take into account how much they're going to be paying for rugby going forward, or the possible loss of cricket fans?

I agree Sky TV looks cheap fundamentally based on historical earnings, but those earnings are just that - history.

Clearly the figures don't include the latest Rugby deal. And clearly Sky TV earnings are still going to be under pressure. Hard to say by how much though, since they won't be forking out for NZ Cricket now (regrettably).

I am just making the point that the company still generates large free cash flows, and any notion that they are about to 'go belly up' is extremely premature in my view.

[mistaTea]

At the end of the day subscriber numbers will continue to drop, their cost are going up and Spark Sport is going to keep attacking from all directions.

Net subscriber numbers increased last year. And the next round of results will include RugbyPass subscribers.

I expect satellite subscriptions to be down, but NEON, Sky Sport NOW, Vodafone TV and RugbyPass subscriptions to be up - generating an overall subscriber gain.

ARPU will be lower of course, but I don't really care about that. I would rather have 1 million subscribers paying an average of $50 than 500,000 subscribers paying an average if $100 (even though Revenue is the same).

In fact, I wish they wouldn't even quote ARPU anymore. It is becoming more meaningless as time goes on.

Take me, for example. I pay $39.99 for Sky Sport NOW and $13.95 for NEON. I am one household who pays Sky $54.94 per month. But under the ARPU model I am seen as two subscribers paying $27.47 each on average.

As the trend of people ditching satellite in favour of NEON/Sky Sport NOW combinations continue the ARPU figure will become even more meaningless in my view.

[tga_trader]

Take me, for example. I pay $39.99 for Sky Sport NOW and $13.95 for NEON. I am one household who pays Sky $54.94 per month. But under the ARPU model I am seen as two subscribers paying $27.47 each on average

That's an interesting point though. Of their 750,000 (approx) subscriber numbers, how many are unique? Or is that taken into account in their numbers somehow?
It could skew the subscription decline rate as well. If 2 satellite subscribers leave, but one picks up Neon and Sky Sport then the subscription number is the same, although they actually lost one person and revenue significantly decreased.

[Bobdn]

That's my set up too. SkySport Now and Neon.

The final of Succession is on Today, express from the US. I love that show.

[bull....]

sky used all there money on rugby , cool now spark can pick off all the other sports

[silverblizzard888]

Net subscriber numbers increased last year. And the next round of results will include RugbyPass subscribers.

I expect satellite subscriptions to be down, but NEON, Sky Sport NOW, Vodafone TV and RugbyPass subscriptions to be up - generating an overall subscriber gain.

ARPU will be lower of course, but I don't really care about that. I would rather have 1 million subscribers paying an average of $50 than 500,000 subscribers paying an average if $100 (even though Revenue is the same).

In fact, I wish they wouldn't even quote ARPU anymore. It is becoming more meaningless as time goes on.

Take me, for example. I pay $39.99 for Sky Sport NOW and $13.95 for NEON. I am one household who pays Sky $54.94 per month. But under the ARPU model I am seen as two subscribers paying $27.47 each on average.

As the trend of people ditching satellite in favour of NEON/Sky Sport NOW combinations continue the ARPU figure will become even more meaningless in my view.

Total subscribers
2019: 778,840
2018: 767,727
2017: 824,782
2016: 852,679
2015: 851,561

Alright you right that recently it has gone up, but overall its a downtrend for the past 5 years and increased only by the cheaper subscriptions. You should to consider that Apple and Disney are also coming out with subscriptions too in the next couple of months. This area is getting competitive and Neon will not cope. Apart from Rugby, SKY has lost its moat in this area and things are about to get tougher, NEON licenses it content, whereas everyone else is producing original content and pricing is getting even more competitive. With churn at 14% thats a lot of convincing they will have to do to get people to stay.

[mistaTea]

That's an interesting point though. Of their 750,000 (approx) subscriber numbers, how many are unique? Or is that taken into account in their numbers somehow?
It could skew the subscription decline rate as well. If 2 satellite subscribers leave, but one picks up Neon and Sky Sport then the subscription number is the same, although they actually lost one person and revenue significantly decreased.

It definitely muddies the water. You are right in that, if all households who purchased Sky's streaming services subscribed to both NEON and Sky Sport NOW then the household penetration rate would only remain the same when 1 satellite subscription was counterbalanced by 2 streaming subscriptions.

Not everyone takes both streaming services though (and I don't know what % do).

Last year they showed that they lost 43,000 satellite subscribers - but gained 54,000 streaming subscribers. A net gain of 11,000 subs.

Impossible to untangle the figures, but it doesn't really matter anyway. All Sky need to focus on right now is slowing the satellite decline (by sorting out their pricing) and continuing to aggressively increase streaming subscription across all three services (NEON, Sky Sport NOW and RugbyPass).

[silverblizzard888]

That's my set up too. SkySport Now and Neon.

The final of Succession is on Today, express from the US. I love that show.

Agreed Succession is a good show indeed! Hard to find a good financial fiction series, apart from Billions.

[Stranger_Danger]

Take me, for example. I pay $39.99 for Sky Sport NOW and $13.95 for NEON. I am one household who pays Sky $54.94 per month. But under the ARPU model I am seen as two subscribers paying $27.47 each on average.

Perhaps this is why subscriber numbers went up last year?