SkyTV silent on interest in Lightbox
Spark and SkyTV are not commenting on speculation that Sky is in talks to buy Spark’s Lightbox streaming television entertainment service.
Spark announced in March it had begun a formal process to select a ‘‘growth partner’’ for Lightbox, which competes with Sky’s own Neon service.
It said at the time that Lightbox had 355,000 subscribers but said Lightbox’s continued success would require ongoing investment, especially in content.
Spark spokeswoman Ellie Cross said it still had a ‘‘commercially-sensitive process’’ under way to identify a growth partner for Lightbox and the company was not able to provide any comment on how that was proceeding. Sky chief executive Martin Stewart also declined to comment.
A deal between Sky and Spark over Lightbox could surprise, given the two companies have locked horns over the past two years for streaming sports rights.
This competition is believed to have forced Sky to find more money – reportedly $500 million – to secure the rights for domestic and All Blacks rugby.
Both Lightbox and Neon, while attracting solid followings, have been eclipsed by Netflix.
Spark said in March it envisaged working with an existing media player to leverage their entertainment content with the ‘‘strong marketing and distribution platform’’ of Lightbox.
Television NZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick has indicated it believes the streaming market will become a bloodbath while another potential partner, TV channel Three owner MediaWorks, has indicated its desire to pull out of television entirely.
In a sign that battlelines in the media industry are being redrawn, Stewart said yesterday he hoped a partnership with TVNZ for coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would develop into something broader.