Sky TV consults outdoor broadcasting staff on OSB sale proposal

Friday, 29 November 2019

Sky's ability to film its own New Zealand sport productions had been regarded as one of its 'crown jewels', but competition may have eroded that.

Sky Television has confirmed it is in talks to sell its sports production subsidiary Outside Broadcasting Ltd to United States outdoor broadcasting specialist NEP, which entered New Zealand last year.

Sky's head of sport Brian Hitchcock told staff in a leaked memo that Outside Broadcasting (OSB) employees were told of the proposal on Friday.

It was only a proposal and no decision had been made, his message said, adding that the plan was sensitive and confidential.

Sky spokeswoman Chris Major said that regardless of what decision was made, OSB's technology and the expertise of its crew would remain an important part of Sky Sport's delivery.

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Staff at Sky's OSB outside broadcasting subsidiary have been told the business may be sold to rival NEP.

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'Producing and delivering excellent sport up and down New Zealand, from grassroots to high performance, is what we do at Sky Sport,' she said.

'The question being asked is whether Sky needs to use its own capital to deliver the outside broadcast aspects,' she said, reiterating no final decision had been made.

Sky's ability to produce its own sports programmes from events in New Zealand has been assumed to be one of its key competitive advantages as it faces growing competition for sports rights from rivals including Spark.

But NEP's entry into the New Zealand market last year has potentially eroded that.

Sky originally bought OSB from Australia's Prime Media Group in 2010 for $35 million.

It owns the specialist trucks and equipment that can frequently be seen outside sports venues when events are on.

NEP entered New Zealand last year by taking over Auckland company NZ Live.

NEP Australia president Soames Treffry said then that NEP could help the likes of TVNZ and Spark film sports events, or help sporting bodies sell games direct to the public.

But he also offered then to film events for Sky, if it wanted to outsource the production of live sports.

It seems that may now be on the cards.

Treffry said at the time that NEP had the capacity to use improved broadband to centralise the production of sport events at its hubs in Sydney in Melbourne.

But he downplayed the likelihood of NEP managing the production of Kiwi Super Rugby fixtures from Australia, if it ever won the job of producing them, suggesting that might be culturally disrespectful.

'I can't imagine it would be that welcome – New Zealand is a rugby club with four million members,' he said last year.