Originally Posted by
LaserEyeKiwi
On the plus side, this will be put to a shareholder vote to approve (according to sky’s release this morning) - so can still be blocked (no doubt with a discouraging break fee).
If it fails I think we can say goodbye to the chair and CEO fairly quickly.
But lets give them a chance to flesh out the details first, like already mentioned Mediaworks appears to be spitting off positive free cashflow, with its net loss coming from a large amount of depreciation/amortization - so there might actually be a solid company there.
Sky might also be prioritizing its revenue diversification efforts as the NZR re-negotiation gets closer on the road map. With the silver lake deal done, NZR is extremely flush with cash and it would be the perfect time for them to consider a direct to consumer model for a 100% NZR owned streaming rugby product to be developed, which would be devastating for Sky who would then be left with possibly just the scraps (a licensing deal aimed at only the satellite product for hard to reach rural customers with poor broadband access). So building up the alternative revenue streams (broadband/Mediaworks) will ease that risk somewhat.