Spark boss still has a Sky happy place

Spark boss Simon Moutter has admitted he still has a subscription to Sky Network Television, despite tweeting in September that he had sent his Sky box back to the company.

The extent to which Sky is a ‘‘must have’’ is one of the issues the country’s competition watchdog is wrestling with as it decides whether to approve Sky’s merger with Vodafone New Zealand.

Moutter clarified in a series of tweets yesterday that he still had one Sky box, which he used to watch Sky Sports.

In September, Moutter tweeted he was ‘‘sending my box back to Sky TV’’, saying that internet television services, such as Spark’s own Lightbox service, provided ‘‘much better value’’.

Moutter followed up that tweet with another earlier this week saying he had saved his parents $630 a year by switching them off Sky Basic and on to Freeview and Lightbox.

But he didn’t completely cut the cord with Sky.

‘‘Used to pay for 4 boxes & several add-ons at home, bach & for parents’, now down to 1 for sport,’’ he explained on Twitter.

‘‘Next step is shifting fully OnDemand for sport & drop last box, but would like more choice and reliability.’’

Moutter’s viewing habits bring into a relief a wider disagreement between Spark and Sky TV over Sky’s proposed merger with Vodafone.

Spark has opposed the merger, saying Sky’s premium sports service is a ‘‘must have’’ for many Spark customers and the merger could give a combined SkyVodafone an unfair advantage in the broadband market.

Sky has downplayed those concerns, saying it will be in the interests of the merged firm to continue to distribute Sky’s programming as widely as possible.