Sky boss eyes lighter content after HBO Max split as profit jumps

Thursday, 26 February 2026

Sky Television expects to “lighten up” its television entertainment content following its decision to walk away completely from broadcasting HBO Max shows, chief executive Sophie Moloney says.

The company today reported a bumper interim net profit of $52 million.

The result for the six months to the end of December was greatly boosted by a paper gain from its $1 purchase of TV3 and a compensation payment it received from Australian firm Optus for satellite woes it experienced last year.

But even ignoring those gains, its “underlying” net profit was still up 77% on the same period in 2024, at $19.3m.

Read more:

• Sky TV to lose HBO Max content, as Warner Bros chooses to sell shows direct

• Sky expands deal with Paramount in wake of concern over HBO rights

• Sky TV boss stresses it’s ‘business as usual’ after buying TV3 owner for $1

One of the biggest changes in front of Sky is the termination of an agreement with Warner Bros Discovery that has seen HBO Max shows form the cornerstone of its entertainment offering, dominating the line-up of its Neon streaming service.

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) will launch its own competing streaming television service later this year and Sky TV turned down the offer of continuing to buy HBO Max shows at a reduced price on a non-exclusive basis.

Moloney said it was still vitally important for Sky to have entertainment programming alongside Sky Sports but said that a 17% drop in Neon subscriber numbers to 215,000 in the second half of last year “reinforced” the need for it to make changes to its line-up.

HBO Max offered “premium dramas undoubtedly”, but many of those, such as zombie apocalypse series The Last of Us, were “quite dark”, Moloney said.

Sky would be able to go after titles that would create “more of a steady drum beat” by refreshing its offering, attempt to communicate the value of Neon more broadly “and just lightening it up a bit, along with the content”, she said.

“We’ve recognised that something like Yellowstone and that franchise has much broader appeal.” The Yellowstone franchise is owned by WBD-rival Paramount, with which Sky struck an expanded licensing agreement last month.

Sky’s share price climbed 6% to $3.45 in early trading on the NZX following its result, bringing it close to a six-year high. However, it shed most of those gains by lunchtime.

The company’s market value, at $456m, remains a shadow of what it was in its heyday, before the arrival of Netflix in New Zealand and its failed takeover by Britain’s Vodafone.

Sky TV declared an interim dividend of 15 cents a share and forecast a total dividend for the year of “at least” 30c a share, which at its current share price makes it one of the highest-yielding stocks on the NZX.

Moloney said the economic environment remained challenging, but Sky was well-positioned to grow its earnings.

“The combined business is already demonstrating the increased reach and revenue diversification we sought, while also maintaining strong cost control.”

Sky assigned a book value of $34.4m to the TV3 business it bought for $1 in July.

Moloney said the valuation reflected “the fair value of the assets acquired”.

Sky was well-advanced integrating the business, formerly known as Discovery NZ, with its pay-TV business, having achieved “synergies” of $3.2m during the half-year, she said.

The Optus compensation, worth $8.2m, stemmed from Sky needing to provide additional support to some customers during an unplanned migration to a 14-year-old Korean satellite last year, following the premature failure of its former broadcast satellite, Optus D2.

Sky’s traditional revenues — from customers who own a Sky Box — fell 6% compared with the same six-month period in 2024, continuing their decline, while Sky Sport Now’s revenues were up 8%.