Chairman says Sky TV on the road to profitability

By SIMON HENDERY

Sky Television shareholders were happy to sit back and enjoy the show at yesterday's annual meeting.

A series of short clips featuring highlights for the pay TV company over the past year and previews of coming programmes was well received by the audience of about 80 at the Auckland meeting.

But when the chairman, Peter Macourt, opened the meeting to questions from the floor, nobody had any.

Shareholders were obviously happy with Macourt's assurance that the company remained on track to achieve its previously stated target of moving into profitability in the second half of the 2003-04 financial year.

Sky has racked up years of multi-million-dollar losses associated with the costs of increasing its subscriber base with the promise of healthy returns once growth slows.

Chief executive John Fellet told the meeting that Sky now had 513,000 subscribers amounting to 37 per cent of all New Zealand homes.

More than 72 per cent of subscribers now opt for the company's more expensive digital service.

Sky's most successful territory is the Chatham Islands, where 70 per cent of homes subscribe, but Fellet said that "might have something to do with [the lack of] alternative entertainment options".

To encourage new subscribers, Sky would launch its long-awaited email service within two weeks, he said.

The system will allow Sky's digital subscribers to send and receive email using their television screen and a wireless keyboard, which will cost about $100.

Next month the company plans to launch another interactive service, "SkyBet", which will allow subscribers with a TAB phone betting account to place bets via their televisions.