I was reflecting more on the general negative sentiment from the likes of Arie Dekker etc in the NBR article...
A few things stand out.
First, it is baffling that they continue to refuse to give Sky much credit for incredible progress. Sky currently have ~1M customer relationships which is far more than they ever had during their monopoly days. That is astounding given there is so much more competition these days and highlights that there is a huge demand for Sky TV's services (particularly streaming which is seeing double digit growth year on year). Then there is the fact that Sky continue to be able to sign deals with premium content owners. So clearly there is a demand from the owners of content to use Sky's services rather than launch their own OTT service in an already crowded market. At any point these guys could not renew their deal with Sky and enter the market with their own app - but the vast majority don't (and never will imo).
Revenue is increasing, Sky has launched complimentary services (broadband and there is scope for mobile in the future). Earnings and cash flows seem to have stabilised despite inflation in rights costs.
Second, they keep saying how doomed Sky is as a content aggregator (a sentiment I clearly do not share) but then when it is suggested that Sky do something big to secure their future by branching out into something like a merger with a telco, then they immediately poo-poo the idea with very questionable rationale. So according to the Arie's of the world Sky TV is doomed to extinction in its current state but shouldn't be able to transform into a business that owns hard telco assets.
So what should Sky do instead then? Well, Arie and the others never state what the solution is. I guess they think there is no solution and Sky just needs to go bankrupt even though all the evidence we observe does not support this conclusion.
It will be very hard for Sky to get a fair valuation on the public markets given the state of sentiment. Ultimately, I do believe Sky needs to continue on the path they are on (in terms of making improvements and progress) with a view to sell the business. That sale could be to someone like 2D or it could be to Private Equity. Either way, I think Sky will have a better time focussing on the business as a private enterprise.