Sky buys Three

The Herald reports:

Sky TV is buying financially troubled TV3 (Three) for $1 in a seismic media move that pits it in a new battle royale with TVNZ.

The deal, announced by publicly listed Sky TV to the NZX at 8.30am today, will see the exit from New Zealand of US giant Warner Bros Discovery in the free-to-air television space.

Sky will take all of the Three (TV3), ThreeNow and Eden brands and platforms – officially as of Friday next week, August 1.

This is a very smart move by Sky. I suspect they will remain long-term owners of Three, which has been a challenging standalone broadcaster since it launched.

It launched in 1989, and went into receivership. A ban on foreign ownership over 15% stopped NBC from increasing its stake. Then Westpac owned it as a creditor, and they sold it in part to Canwest in 1997. Then in 2007 it went to Ironbridge Capital and in 2020 sold to Discovery. And now it is sold to Sky NZ.

As I said, I can’t see Sky NZ selling it. As a domestic broadcaster they are here for the long haul.