Another record deal in the southern hemisphere.
On Tuesday, July 22, New Zealand saw another major shift in its local media landscape as local pay TV giant Sky Television NZ acquired Discovery NZ, the unit that operates the free-to-air operations of American conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in the country.
This deal was truly remarkable as Sky only had to shell out NZ$1 (about PHP 34) to take over the free-to-air stations Three, streaming service ThreeNow, and the New Zealand version of home and lifestyle channel HGTV, among others.
According to Sky Television, the sale will be on a cash-free and debt-free basis, with completion expected on August 1, 2025.
The chief executive of Sky, Sophie Moloney, reflected, “This is an exciting, future-focused step for Sky and a win for our growth and ambition to be Aotearoa New Zealand’s most engaging and essential media company.“
She also noted that the deal positions the company to diversify their revenue streams in advertising and digital.
It positions us to scale faster, puts real momentum into our strategy, and grows and further diversifies our revenue streams, particularly in advertising and digital.
Moreover, “ThreeNow and Three are much-loved brands. We recognize the substantial work and investment undertaken by Discovery NZ in the past 12 months to create a more digital-focused business with a significantly reduced cost base.”
Local media outlets also reported that Sky intends to honor Three’s existing contracts with partners, such as Stuff for the production of the nightly news bulletin Three News.
In fact, both media companies also share a commonality, as in 2020, CEO Sinead Boucher bought the online news portal Stuff from Australia’s Nine Entertainment for the price of one dollar.
Regarding sports coverage, there is also likelihood that these coverages would begin to be introduced to Three’s line-up in the following months as a result of the corporate shake-up.
Prior to the acquisition, Sky only had its free-to-air linear operations through the Sky Open channel, with most of its content seen through pay television.
Meanwhile, moving forward, Warner Bros. Discovery will continue its presence in New Zealand via the HBO Max streamer, Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP) New Zealand, and its own suite of pay TV channels.
The sale of the NZ division also happens a few months after Warner Bros. Discovery announced a shocking turnaround, which would see the media giant split into two.
The other half retains the cable assets in the group known as the Global Networks, and the other, Streaming & Studios composed of its video-on-demand and movie production arms.