Chris Major: Sky TV Chief Corporate Affairs Officer on the satellite switch happening this month

Sky TV is finally switching to a new satellite after months of customers complaining about poor reception.

The changeover will happen in the week starting 14 April, but some customers in Northland, Gisborne, Southland and the East Cape will need to replace their rooftop dishes beforehand.

How many customers will need to have replacements?

Sky TV Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Chris Major talks to Ryan Bridge.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
If you're a Sky customer, you have a date for
a new satellite. It is April the fourteenth, but some
customers in Northland, Southland, Gisbon in the East Cape will
need to have their rooftop dishes replaced beforehand. Joining me
is Sky's chief corporate affairs officer, Chris Major. Chris, Good afternoon,
Hi Ryan, So we've got a date. That's great. How

(00:22):
do you know how many customers will need new dishes?

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hey? Well, can I quickly on that date? First of all,
it's the week of the fourteenth, so we are not
actually putting a particular date on it because these things
are there are variables like weather as you look at
the window now, so yeah, it might not be the fourteenth,
that'll be that week.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Okay, so one day in the week of the fourteenth. Good,
good clarification and look.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
For the vast majority of our customers, they won't even notice.
We have written to all of our customers last night
to say there's one thing we want them to do,
which is to please make sure your black skybox has
turned on. It's really important that the box is plugged
in and turned on because it needs to receive some
software and then it needs to migrate to the new satellite.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Right, so everyone has to have their box on for
the whole week starting the fourteenth of April. And what
about the people who might need new dishes on the roof?
Do you have a number?

Speaker 1 (01:18):
We do in part, so the new satellite is now
in place in the right slot, and so we've been
able to do some testing and we've found these three
regions where people might not have an optimal signal. The
reason I say that's in part is that we know
that there are some who will most definitely need a
new dish, and we're already out talking with them. In fact,
we've done most of the upgrades already. They need to

(01:40):
have a slightly bigger dish than the current dish that
they've got. So of those there's two and a half thousand,
and we've been out to sixteen hundred of them, so
we're making good progress with them. The trickier one is
the next category, which is other people who live in
that region. We're not completely sure if they're okay or not,
and so we've written to them. In some case we're

(02:00):
testing or calling them to say, could you please do
a test for us on your remote super simple, just
to tell us if you've got a good sector or
a lot. So I don't know that number yet. We
really do want people to do that test and let
us know so we can get them set up.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Okay, fair enough, It sounds like you're making good progress
on it. About how much does it cost or do
you cover the cost of the new dish?

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Oh? We cover it definitely, We've got and we've got
extra texts. You know, there's a team that went up
to Northland on Tuesday of this week, so they I
think they're in Mongerduy today, so they're doing their best
to get out to as many people as possible. You know,
because that migration day is pretty soon.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
It sounds quite antiquated in a way, doesn't it. I
mean when you consider that for most people living in
big cities, they get all their stuff through, you know,
a streaming platform that comes over the internet. To be
talking about pointing things at the sky seems pretty old school.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Well, you know, there's still you know, four hundred and
fifty thousand homes in New Zealand that use the satellite
And yeah, we obviously have some customers who are on
streaming services and we love them too. But there are
a lot who still rely on the satellite.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Because I guess that's the other point, doesn't I Mean,
there's some places where the internet's absolutely crap, so you'd
be better off on a satellite, wouldn't you. All Right, Chris, Well,
it sounds like it's going to be a very busy
week for you guys come the fourteenth of April, So
good luck, thank you very much. It's Chris Major, sky
TV chief corporate Affairs officer. For more from Hither Duplessy
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(03:24):
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