Shares in New Zealand’s Sky Network Television slumped 8.3 percent on Wednesday after the country’s largest pay-TV operator announced it had lost the rights to broadcast English Premier League (EPL) football.
Sky said it had been outbid by a private equity company for the EPL, despite submitting its highest-ever offer for the broadcast rights.
“We are extremely disappointed to have missed out and seek to assure our football-loving subscribers that this does not signal a change in our wishes to secure the best football matches that we can for you,” it said in a statement.
The EPL is a major part of Sky’s sports programming in New Zealand and the company’s Facebook page was inundated with comments from angry customers criticising its failure to secure the rights.
“This is a complete disgrace and I am really angry, I for one will be cancelling my Sky Sports,” subscriber John Easton wrote.
Former New Zealand and Leeds defender Danny Hay also said he would quit the service, telling RadioLive “at the end of the day you think football, you think the English Premier League”.
Sky was founded by News Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch, who once famously said sports coverage was the “battering ram” that allowed him to get pay-TV into lounges around the world.
Murdoch’s media empire sold its remaining 44 percent stake in Sky’s New Zealand operation earlier this year, leaving it as a listed company.
The share price dipped 47 cents or 8.3 percent to NZ$5.20 at the open on Wednesday before recovering slightly to be down 5.7 percent in mid-morning trading.
The successful bidder for the EPL rights in New Zealand has not been officially announced but local media reported it was a consortium which plans to offer matches online via a subscription model.
In an investor presentation last May, Sky said internal monitoring systems meant it could gauge exactly how much a sport was worth.
“(We’re) prepared to walk away from uneconomic content … we welcome new entrants — there is so much sport around that we cannot possibly show it all,” it said.
Sky TV (NZ) plunges on Premier League rights loss
