February 25, 2025 • 8 mins
It could be Sky TV's worst nightmare - a major international streamer is reportedly looking at going after the rights to the rugby.
The New Zealand Herald's Gregor Paul is reporting that DAZN has entered negotiations with New Zealand Rugby.
John Fellet is the former Sky boss - and he spoke to D'Arcy Waldegrave on Sportstalk about what this might mean.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB, and.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We're going to talk now about dezones. You can say
a hostile takeover or an offer to pick up ins
are all Black Rights? Maybe takeover sky I don't know.
Great story broken today by New Zealand and heralds Gregor Paul.
You want to read more about it insidherld dot co
dot inz is where you can go. So John joins
(00:34):
us now he's the former CEO of sky TV. Good evening, John,
I trust you well.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I am good. And Josee, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm doing very well. Great to have you on board again.
It's been a while. Crazy story today coming out in
the world of sports broadcasting. I suppose of anything. It
says that the sands that are shifting are shifting in
a hurry. Now there's word that the possibility that Dezone,
the big boxing stream who are involved in other sport
might roll in and pick up All Black Rights, swipe
(01:05):
them from underneath SkyTV's knows how big is something like
this for the sporting landscape here in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, it's really hard to predict right now.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
I mean the Zone is a global streamer and and
the All Blacks we all love and probably the most
valuable sport content in New Zealand. But even like across
the Tasman, you know, it would be like the fourth
or fifth most important sporting franchise over there. So it's
tough to be I remember when I had when Sky started,
(01:38):
we had ESPN and it would jump from.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
A IX soccer match.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
In the Netherlands over to badminton and from Indonesia.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And so it was tough to be a.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Global streamer because sports something like the squid game works everywhere,
but sports with some rare exceptions, you know, Super Bowl
or FA World Cup and that sort of stuff a
FIFA World Cup. Sorry, it's much more localized. Fact that
they're talking is interesting, I'd say, well.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
The nature of streaming that landscape changed dramatically as well.
It's not a brave new world. It's not so scary
as it was when Spark, for example, turned up. So
timing wise, it seems right that the public will actually
engage with this. They understand it.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Yeah, And probably the biggest breakthrough has been probatically all
new television sets have a streaming capability built in most
of the key apps as an example of television New Zealand,
a TVs A plus just about every television set you
buy will have an app that you can go to and.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Try it out.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
I'm sure I'm not seeing that the zone on mine,
but my set's four or five years old. But you know,
sixty percent of the people in the States look at
streaming through their smart TV sets, so and I imagine
New Zealand wouldn't be far behind that.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And they look through their phones as well, on every
device that's possibly gone. So it does start getting very
very He brought out that designer talked before about being
This is with Alix Smith on News Talk to be
about being the home of sport in New Zealand. In
order to do that, you have to have the All Blacks,
don't you Otherwise you can't say that.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Look, that's true.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
The All Blacks are number one, uh in first place
in sports content New Zealand, and it's probably no second, third,
or fourth.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And then you get to the other codes.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
How valuable is this code to Sky Sport if they
were to lose this? What kind of body blow does
that represent?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
John?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Look, it's it's been six years since I ran Sky.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
So I don't know all the economics of it now,
but back when when I was there, we had the
Disney Channel and Discovery and you know, thirty semi channels,
all the movies and and sport was just part of it.
Now six years later, the movies kind of go director
streaming to the Netflix and Prime and Apple TV, and
(04:07):
Sky has a great selection of movies, but not as
strong as they were a couple of years ago. And
in some of those channels like Disney and has disappeared
in ESPN. Now you can get from a couple of
different sources. It sounds like from a reading, so it
would be it would be their most important piece of
content they have right now.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Would the situation Insida find themselves in, we expect because
Spark has now dissipated, It means Sky in a slightly
stronger position playing being there for sex years. So you
don't know, but they in a position where's well said
that they will lobel. Insida haven't got a choice. So
maybe some of this from Rugby and Z is a
(04:48):
bit of posturing going, well, you better up it because
we got these guys around the corner. This game continues,
and I suppose it accelerates, it doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
You know what I loved about Sky when I was
CEO there was that it was a poker game that
never stopped, and every day there was a new deal
and a new service to go after. Keep in mind
you use the majority of term low balling. Scott doesn't
have as many subs as they had when I was there,
and so I don't know how they can afford to
pay as much as they did five six years ago
(05:19):
when they did the deal last deal, So it's less
of a low ball and more of the economic realities.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
But they lose subscribers. If Sky lost Rugby, you'd suggest
that would also be I use the term body blow.
I'll use it again.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Look, it certainly would you think would damage them, and
that's why they probably pay more for.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It than any of the piece of content they have.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
As far as the public concerned and their ability or
they want to move providers. We covered it off before,
but is that more likely in this day and age?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Look more likely, But there's still if you look at
Sky's churn numbers, there's still that group the population out
there my age and older that really feel quite comfortable
with the deacoda in the my Sky and have had
it for years and to have them jump right away.
(06:14):
I'm not saying they couldn't do it, but I remember
when I was at Sky, a group called Coliseum got.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
The PGA and they just got killed. The PGA was.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Had the oldest audience and you were asking them to,
you know, act like they were nineteen as far as
their viewing habits. And so it's a sky with a
combination of streaming and also linear, it would probably be
in a better position than just doing one or the other.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
John phillet Form, CEO of Sky, how about this for
an idea? And this has been thrown up as well
with Design now purchasing Foxtel and looking to basically take
that over. If you will sport in Australia, what are
the chances of maybe Design rolling in going you know
what will take a whole of Sky? Do you reckon
(07:07):
that's within the capabilities or desires?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
You know, you'd have to ask to them.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
It certainly be one sixth the purchase price that that
Foxdale was looking at today's market price for Sky.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
So something that would be worthwhile if you're looking at
expanding because they've got Australia, so it kind of make
sense that New Zealand maybe you should be a part
of that.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Look, look, there's two ways to make an impact. You
buy a company that has lots of sports rights, or
you start trying to go after sports rights. And you know,
the sports rights are typically spread over a four or five.
Sky just got the cricket and so, and I think
that deal with for six years something like that. It
doesn't start for another year by and so you know,
(07:58):
you couldn't you can't rule it out, but the Zone would.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Have a better explanation than I would on it.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
For more from Shorts Talk, listen live to News Talk
zet B from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB, and.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We're going to talk now about dezones. You can say
a hostile takeover or an offer to pick up ins
are all Black Rights? Maybe takeover sky I don't know.
Great story broken today by New Zealand and heralds Gregor Paul.
You want to read more about it insidherld dot co
dot inz is where you can go. So John joins
(00:34):
us now he's the former CEO of sky TV. Good evening, John,
I trust you well.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I am good. And Josee, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm doing very well. Great to have you on board again.
It's been a while. Crazy story today coming out in
the world of sports broadcasting. I suppose of anything. It
says that the sands that are shifting are shifting in
a hurry. Now there's word that the possibility that Dezone,
the big boxing stream who are involved in other sport
might roll in and pick up All Black Rights, swipe
(01:05):
them from underneath SkyTV's knows how big is something like
this for the sporting landscape here in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Well, it's really hard to predict right now.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
I mean the Zone is a global streamer and and
the All Blacks we all love and probably the most
valuable sport content in New Zealand. But even like across
the Tasman, you know, it would be like the fourth
or fifth most important sporting franchise over there. So it's
tough to be I remember when I had when Sky started,
(01:38):
we had ESPN and it would jump from.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
A IX soccer match.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
In the Netherlands over to badminton and from Indonesia.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And so it was tough to be a.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Global streamer because sports something like the squid game works everywhere,
but sports with some rare exceptions, you know, Super Bowl
or FA World Cup and that sort of stuff a
FIFA World Cup. Sorry, it's much more localized. Fact that
they're talking is interesting, I'd say, well.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
The nature of streaming that landscape changed dramatically as well.
It's not a brave new world. It's not so scary
as it was when Spark, for example, turned up. So
timing wise, it seems right that the public will actually
engage with this. They understand it.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Yeah, And probably the biggest breakthrough has been probatically all
new television sets have a streaming capability built in most
of the key apps as an example of television New Zealand,
a TVs A plus just about every television set you
buy will have an app that you can go to and.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Try it out.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
I'm sure I'm not seeing that the zone on mine,
but my set's four or five years old. But you know,
sixty percent of the people in the States look at
streaming through their smart TV sets, so and I imagine
New Zealand wouldn't be far behind that.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And they look through their phones as well, on every
device that's possibly gone. So it does start getting very
very He brought out that designer talked before about being
This is with Alix Smith on News Talk to be
about being the home of sport in New Zealand. In
order to do that, you have to have the All Blacks,
don't you Otherwise you can't say that.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Look, that's true.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
The All Blacks are number one, uh in first place
in sports content New Zealand, and it's probably no second, third,
or fourth.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And then you get to the other codes.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
How valuable is this code to Sky Sport if they
were to lose this? What kind of body blow does
that represent?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
John?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Look, it's it's been six years since I ran Sky.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
So I don't know all the economics of it now,
but back when when I was there, we had the
Disney Channel and Discovery and you know, thirty semi channels,
all the movies and and sport was just part of it.
Now six years later, the movies kind of go director
streaming to the Netflix and Prime and Apple TV, and
(04:07):
Sky has a great selection of movies, but not as
strong as they were a couple of years ago. And
in some of those channels like Disney and has disappeared
in ESPN. Now you can get from a couple of
different sources. It sounds like from a reading, so it
would be it would be their most important piece of
content they have right now.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Would the situation Insida find themselves in, we expect because
Spark has now dissipated, It means Sky in a slightly
stronger position playing being there for sex years. So you
don't know, but they in a position where's well said
that they will lobel. Insida haven't got a choice. So
maybe some of this from Rugby and Z is a
(04:48):
bit of posturing going, well, you better up it because
we got these guys around the corner. This game continues,
and I suppose it accelerates, it doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
You know what I loved about Sky when I was
CEO there was that it was a poker game that
never stopped, and every day there was a new deal
and a new service to go after. Keep in mind
you use the majority of term low balling. Scott doesn't
have as many subs as they had when I was there,
and so I don't know how they can afford to
pay as much as they did five six years ago
(05:19):
when they did the deal last deal, So it's less
of a low ball and more of the economic realities.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
But they lose subscribers. If Sky lost Rugby, you'd suggest
that would also be I use the term body blow.
I'll use it again.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Look, it certainly would you think would damage them, and
that's why they probably pay more for.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
It than any of the piece of content they have.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
As far as the public concerned and their ability or
they want to move providers. We covered it off before,
but is that more likely in this day and age?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Look more likely, But there's still if you look at
Sky's churn numbers, there's still that group the population out
there my age and older that really feel quite comfortable
with the deacoda in the my Sky and have had
it for years and to have them jump right away.
(06:14):
I'm not saying they couldn't do it, but I remember
when I was at Sky, a group called Coliseum got.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
The PGA and they just got killed. The PGA was.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Had the oldest audience and you were asking them to,
you know, act like they were nineteen as far as
their viewing habits. And so it's a sky with a
combination of streaming and also linear, it would probably be
in a better position than just doing one or the other.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
John phillet Form, CEO of Sky, how about this for
an idea? And this has been thrown up as well
with Design now purchasing Foxtel and looking to basically take
that over. If you will sport in Australia, what are
the chances of maybe Design rolling in going you know
what will take a whole of Sky? Do you reckon
(07:07):
that's within the capabilities or desires?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
You know, you'd have to ask to them.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
It certainly be one sixth the purchase price that that
Foxdale was looking at today's market price for Sky.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
So something that would be worthwhile if you're looking at
expanding because they've got Australia, so it kind of make
sense that New Zealand maybe you should be a part
of that.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Look, look, there's two ways to make an impact. You
buy a company that has lots of sports rights, or
you start trying to go after sports rights. And you know,
the sports rights are typically spread over a four or five.
Sky just got the cricket and so, and I think
that deal with for six years something like that. It
doesn't start for another year by and so you know,
(07:58):
you couldn't you can't rule it out, but the Zone would.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Have a better explanation than I would on it.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
For more from Shorts Talk, listen live to News Talk
zet B from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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