Originally Posted by
mistaTea
1. It is yet to be seen how successful Disney and AppleTV+ will be in NZ. NZ is a small market and people already have a choice between NEON (Which gives HBO, Showtime, FX and more), Netflix, Lightbox, TVNZ On Demand and Amazon Prime. There is already too much to watch, and new subscription services might find it harder than they think to build up a meaningful customer base.
I have an AppleTV 4K, and it is doubtful that I will sign up to their service anytime soon. I already can't get through all of the programmes I love on NEON, Netflix, Lightbox and Sky Sport NOW.
2. Sky TV does still have competitive advantages (even though every single analyst will describe Sky as 'no-moat').
They have a narrow 'Networks' moat. Sky still have good relationships with key content produces across entertainment and sport. If you want to subscribe to this content legally, Sky is the only place to go in NZ. We can speculate until the cows come home whether HBO (for example) will want to go direct with HBO Max in a few years when their current license deal comes to an end - but that would be pure speculation, and my view is that that prospect becomes less appealing in this already saturated and small market.
The other competitive advantage Sky have is their satellite technology (I can hear everyone gasping as I write this - absolute anathema!).
This would be very expensive for a competitor to replicate. And satellite is still the only reliable tech in a country like NZ in terms of being able to broadcast entertainment and live sporting events across the entire country. That is still a selling point, particularly for Sport. NZ Cricket have made a big call going for a streaming-only service - the wrong call in my view, if they are serious about ensuring all NZers have the ability to watch the matches.
Yes, Sky continue to lose satellite subscribers because their pricing is not compelling - but that is easily fixed.