Latest / Best of Business / Sophie Moloney: Sky TV Chief Executive on the company's new deal with Warner Bros Discovery

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Sophie Moloney: Sky TV Chief Executive on the company's new deal with Warner Bros Discovery · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: SkyTV shares have had a bit of a bump today
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  Speaker 2: after the PayTV provider announced a new deal with Warner
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  Speaker 2: Brothers Discovery. Warner Brothers Discovery has decided it's not going
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  Speaker 2: to launch its streaming service Max in New Zealand. Instead,
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  Speaker 2: it's going to allow Sky to broadcast all the movies
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  Speaker 2: and the shows on Max through Sky's various platforms and
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  Speaker 2: so on. And this will mean shows like The Big Bang,
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  Speaker 2: Theory and Friends and Rick and Morty will be available
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  Speaker 2: on Neon when the deal kicks in at the end
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  Speaker 2: of the month. Sophie Maloney is SkyTV's chief executive. Hey Sophie,
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  Speaker 2: you got to hear that.
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  Speaker 3: How are you doing well?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. Now, these guys have launched Max in Australia,
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  Speaker 2: so why didn't they want to launch Max here?
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  Speaker 3: Well, we it's a long standing partnership with Warner Brothers
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  Speaker 3: Discovery and we're just super excited that they've seen that
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  Speaker 3: rather than going direct to consumer and artiet on New Zealand,
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  Speaker 3: it's better to partner with Sky because we've got the
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  Speaker 3: best customer base for them to engage them. So we're
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  Speaker 3: really excited about this deal. Here.
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  Speaker 2: Was it simple economics? Was it just that you guys
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  Speaker 2: offered the more for the product than they could make
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  Speaker 2: by going to hundreds of thousands of US for it.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's there's economics, and there's the ability to
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  Speaker 3: continue to partner with us. I mean, our customer based
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  Speaker 3: across Sky and Neon is impressive. So yeah, I'm sure
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  Speaker 3: that's part of what they weighed up. But also there's
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  Speaker 3: a there's a fair amount of effort that goes into
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  Speaker 3: direct consumer for these players, and I think they looked
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  Speaker 3: at the size of market and you know, we were
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  Speaker 3: the best bet for them.
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  Speaker 2: Why didn't they have that option in Australia?
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  Speaker 3: That's Stephanie for the Aussie market and for those guys
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  Speaker 3: to answer for you. What I am excited about is
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  Speaker 3: that customers are not only going to get their favorite
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  Speaker 3: titles from HBO Max, but yeah, lots of deep library
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  Speaker 3: content that we haven't had access to before.
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  Speaker 2: How long is it for because there is always the
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  Speaker 2: risk obviously that this is just tiding them over for
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  Speaker 2: a bit and then they go direct to consumer at
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  Speaker 2: some stage.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, No, we haven't talked about the term because it's
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  Speaker 3: commercially sensitive and it's a pretty competitive landscape, as you'll
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  Speaker 3: appreciate heither, so we never talk about it in terms
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  Speaker 3: of our entertainment deals. Suffice to say that I'm confident
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  Speaker 3: that we're going to continue to partner really, really well,
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  Speaker 3: and of course, if customers keep enjoying the content with us,
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  Speaker 3: then there's no reason for Warner Brothers to launch direct.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, so I saw that they actually paid you. It
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  Speaker 2: looks like four to five million. What happened there?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, that's just part of the we have to disclose,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the how the deal works. Because the prior
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  Speaker 3: deal is coming to an end. We're basically prepaid for
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  Speaker 3: some content that we haven't managed to play out by
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  Speaker 3: the launch date. So that's just part of the mechanics
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  Speaker 3: of giving effect to the new deal. Did you see
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  Speaker 3: Gregor Paul's column at the weekend which one was that
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  Speaker 3: that was the one that asked whether you in New Zealand,
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  Speaker 3: like as in Sky TV and New Zealand, would be
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  Speaker 3: a partners or competitors. Yes, I did see that article,
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  Speaker 3: of course, And what's the answer. Yeah, Well, I think
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  Speaker 3: that there's there's obviously always speculation. Does New Zealand Rugby
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  Speaker 3: want to think about a direct consumer play? From our perspective,
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  Speaker 3: we're very comfortable to have that conversation, and we've got
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  Speaker 3: a really important customer base who loved their Rugby. And
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  Speaker 3: if New Zealand Rugby wants to do some of that
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  Speaker 3: on their platform and still partner with us, and we
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  Speaker 3: can think about free to wear as well, I think
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  Speaker 3: it's all part of it, right.
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  Speaker 2: Aren't they already doing it through the streaming platform that
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  Speaker 2: they've got.
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  Speaker 3: They are doing it for markets offshore, and so they
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  Speaker 3: do have the ability to do that like we used
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  Speaker 3: to do with Rugby pasts. You might recall that we
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  Speaker 3: said that as part of our solution. We sold that
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  Speaker 3: to World Rugby. So yeah, they've got that, they've got
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  Speaker 3: that capability. But I suppose the read across from this
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  Speaker 3: deal is that Warner Brothers Discovery looked at the size
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  Speaker 3: of market and the audience opportunity and revenue and decided
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  Speaker 3: it was better to partner with us, take the check
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  Speaker 3: from us, and I suppose you could make a read
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  Speaker 3: across to Rugby that said, we're very comfortable to help
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  Speaker 3: Rugby with their global ambitions. We know that that's been
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  Speaker 3: talked about a lot in terms of the Silver Lake investment,
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  Speaker 3: so that for me is all part of it. But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: in terms of this deal, Heather, we're just super excited
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  Speaker 3: and we think you will be because Whiteladus will be
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  Speaker 3: with you on on again soon.
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  Speaker 2: I like what you're doing now. I'm not finished with Rugby.
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  Speaker 2: We'll come back to that. Are you getting Are you
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  Speaker 2: getting the vibes from ends are that they want to
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  Speaker 2: actually come They want to offer us the product the
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  Speaker 2: games direct to consumer here in New Zealand as well
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  Speaker 2: as the global market.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we're in We're in good discussions with them about
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  Speaker 3: the local market and having a conversation around what the
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  Speaker 3: value is and we certainly know that they've got ambitions
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  Speaker 3: to grow access to the All Blacks brand abroad. We
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  Speaker 3: think there's a happy path to do that doing a
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  Speaker 3: deal with us and having the content that we will
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  Speaker 3: capture on the ground here for them to then distribute offshore.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's going to be definitely a big part
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  Speaker 3: of the conversation.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So I had assumed that the hold up in
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  Speaker 2: the negotiations with you guys as to how it was
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  Speaker 2: basically around how much you're going to pay for this
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  Speaker 2: situation to continue, your partnership to continue, But now sounds
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  Speaker 2: like maybe it may also be held up by what
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  Speaker 2: their ambitions are and whether you are prepared to accommodate that.
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  Speaker 2: Is that fair?
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  Speaker 3: I think there's a whole bunch that goes into it.
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  Speaker 3: There's also the rights that they're bringing to market. You know,
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  Speaker 3: there's been a lot of talk about the New Nation's Cup,
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  Speaker 3: which is the end of year tours and inbounds being
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  Speaker 3: rolled up into a new rights package, and so that's
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  Speaker 3: something that we're keen to see what that looks like.
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  Speaker 3: That there's value attached the all blacks heather as you'll appreciate.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's.
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  Speaker 3: A whole bunch of things that are in that conversation
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  Speaker 3: with New Zealand Rugby, and yeah, we're excited to continue
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  Speaker 3: the conversation. We know what the value of the rights
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  Speaker 3: are in terms of what our customers are prepared to
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  Speaker 3: pay because of the customers who are watching it and
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  Speaker 3: enjoying it, and that all goes into the max right,
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  Speaker 3: So I'm very keen to find a way to make
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  Speaker 3: sure I customers can continue to enjoy their Rugby on
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  Speaker 3: Sky and of course we need to work with New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand Rugby to see what their offshore ambitions are too.
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  Speaker 2: How do you fight Craig Fenton to work with?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, So Craig and I've had a, yeah, a good relationship.
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  Speaker 3: It's been a fair bit of time with him since
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  Speaker 3: I met him at the Rugby World Cup last year.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, it was a big news to see today.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, apparently rubbed up some people the wrong way. By
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  Speaker 2: the sounds of things it ends are.
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  Speaker 3: I certainly wouldn't be able to comment on that.
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  Speaker 2: I was totally fishing for gossip there, as you can tell. Now,
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  Speaker 2: listen on to the stuff that you were telling me
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  Speaker 2: about White Lotus. When is that arriving?
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  Speaker 3: Hopefully January?
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  Speaker 2: Guess a bit of a way. Have you tried watching
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  Speaker 2: The Penguin? Yes, I love it, Sophie, I tried.
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  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 2: I've had to split one of the episodes up across
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  Speaker 2: two nights because it was so grim and it's given
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  Speaker 2: me nightmares. I mean, I don't know how that says
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  Speaker 2: about me, but it seems like it's a really I'm
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  Speaker 2: too old for that. It's quite a dark show.
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  Speaker 3: Isn't it is? It is quite dark, but there's also
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  Speaker 3: some lightness to it too. I think it's I think
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  Speaker 3: it's really clever writing and filming the way they've done it.
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  Speaker 3: I do have another one for you then, Joan, have
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  Speaker 3: you watched it?
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  Speaker 2: No, I think I've seen it added it's been pushed
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  Speaker 2: at me.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, six part Brettish crime drammer. I think you'll enjoy.
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  Speaker 3: It's based on our real life story of Joan Hennington
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  Speaker 3: Juel Thief. I'm not going to read, Sophie and what's that?
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  Speaker 2: It's the one with Sophie Turner in it, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: Yes?
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  Speaker 3: Correct?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, missus Jonas all right, brilliant. I think, oh yeah,
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  Speaker 2: don't worry about Sweetpeet. That sounds freaky as I'll watch
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  Speaker 2: this one instead. Appreciate it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, enjoy it.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Heather, Thank you very much, Sophie. Sophie Maloney's
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  Speaker 2: Guide TV chief executive.
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