Sky shrugs off threat from newcomer TiVo

Despite the arrival of MySky competitor TiVo, there are no signs that Sky intends playing technological catch-up. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Sky Television is forecasting that MySky HDi decoder and personal video recorder revenue will make the company stronger and more profitable in the years ahead.

And as the first real competition arrives for MySky next week in the form of TiVo, the pay television company insists it is not concerned the newcomer will hit its revenues.

TiVo's Australian owner, Hybrid Television Services - one-third owned by TVNZ and linked to Telecom in this country - is to hold its local launch next week offering functions not available on Sky or on TiVo in Australia.

But TiVo barely rated a mention at the Sky Television annual meeting yesterday.

Chief executive John Fellet said: "All I can go from is in Australia where it has been established and has not had an effect on uptake. I don't know why it would be any different here."

The new free-to-air platform with a broadband-based pay TV option has an advanced interface with computers that will be central to the future of television.

MySky HDi has inactivated interactive functions. But with the arrival of corporate-backed pay TV competition, there are no signs yet that Sky intends embarking on a technological catch-up.

Sky is in nearly 50 per cent of New Zealand homes and its pay channels are off-limits to TiVo, which works with Freeview and broadband-based downloads of pay TV.

Fellet said Sky was looking at the functions and electronic programming guides for MySky but so was every pay operator. He pointed to the success of MySky, which is used by 128,000 of its 778,902 subscribers.