NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

Deborah Hill Cone: Sky TV is history but who's next?

By Deborah Hill Cone
NZ Herald·
13 Feb, 2017 06:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

With hit shows like Breaking Bad Lightbox and similar services are taking Sky's oxygen.

With hit shows like Breaking Bad Lightbox and similar services are taking Sky's oxygen.

Opinion by Deborah Hill ConeLearn more

I just signed up for a meditation course. I know. It's a such a predictable I'm-turning-50-this-year thing to do. What next: a tattoo? (A friend: "Quick hint DHC. Get it where the skin remains tight. A sunset over a horizon in the wrong place can look like a nuclear holocaust later in life.")

Maybe it was because I was so busy being frantically Zen that I didn't pay much attention when Sky TV rang and said they needed to update our Sky box.

It was only days after it had been replaced - I don't watch Sky much - when I sat down to watch the final of The Affair, that I realised having a new box meant the technician had wiped everything I'd ever saved (Muddy Waters joined on stage by Keith Richards! Best ever Veep quotes! "Don't give me that Quaker in a titty bar look") as well as wiping the series links I had lined up.

Forget calm blue ocean and noticing your out breath, I was breathing flames.

Don't the muppets at Sky realise their old arrogant attitude doesn't cut it anymore? Their technology is outdated but their attitude to us long suffering customers, more so.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I canceled my Sky sub. Take that. (I just watched Breaking Bad on Lightbox) This was easy, because I had no residual goodwill towards the company. Sky, it seemed to me, for many years had such an icky relationship with successive governments - through effective lobbying, although one had to wonder - it was allowed to monopolistically dominate and extract huge profits from broadcasting sport, whilst barely investing anything in local journalism or non-sports-related content.

Even when the writing was on the wall, Sky has continued to force subscribers to buy a whole bundle of stuff at a high price, most of which we don't want. And at a time when consumers are flexing their muscles, empowered by social media, Sky has done little I can think to inspire loyalty. So, see ya.

Admittedly it's easy for me to say. Going without sports is no hardship as I am terrified of the very things that a majority of people find give them a buzz - crowds, concerts, competitive anything.

(Wonky oxytocin receptors I suspect) But having to give up Sky could be irksome to lots of neurotypical sports lovers, who don't want to hand their box back. Not to mention rural residents where internet speeds are cruddy and streaming isn't an option.

And yet, it turned out the prospect of Sky getting its comeuppance was not as satisfying as I might have imagined. Its downfall seems inevitable, as it will disappear if the reverse takeover by Vodafone goes ahead. Yet thinking about this did not give me the expected kick of schadenfreude. Why was that?

Discover more

Opinion

Hill Cone: How Pharmac stole my holiday

15 Jan 04:00 PM
Opinion

Try to save your rage for big stage

22 Jan 04:00 PM
Opinion

Hill Cone: I don't feel like a real Kiwi

29 Jan 04:00 PM
Opinion

Deborah Hill Cone: Why Trump needs help

06 Feb 01:20 AM

Maybe because there is a two-bald-men-fighting-over-a-comb aspect to vanquishing Sky. The real moustache-twirlers are in Silicon Valley - tech juggernauts such as Amazon, Apple and Google.

It is hard to salsa on Sky's grave, when really, the whole industry is in a "salad spinner of shit" (From Veep, from memory.)

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The disruption happening to television is only the same thing we have already experienced in music, publishing and print media and other industries, and having been there, we know how the story ends.

It is a "winner takes all" culture where there will still be one or two mega-stars in a certain field, but most of the middle echelon people will be surplus to requirements. We need grief and loss support groups for people who have trained for a career and then find themselves stranded, unwanted, their whole industry in chaos.

Tech gurus say we need more disruption, and that might be great for high testosterone venture capitalists but for many of us, all there is left is a deep sense of loss and confusion.

So nope. There is no satisfaction in seeing the demise of Sky.

The speed with which technology can change an industry today is truly staggering. As Nick Bilton writes in a piece in the latest Vanity Fair, when Silicon Valley goes after an industry (transport, hotels, cars and so on) it does so with a punch to the gut. The newspaper industry's workforce has shrunk 56% since 2000. Bilton predicts Hollywood is next.

And given we are really just apes who tell stories, this could be scary. It will be bad for storytellers in general if one company can seize a 50% share in storytelling. Tech companies are talking about artificial intelligence, creating computer generated actors and algorithms which will be able to write screenplays as witty as Aaron Sorkin's.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But I can't help noticing, the stories we respond to most viscerally are not about these uber-winners. The stories we love still tend to be about some humble person who has the audacity to take on the powerful and established.

This is what endures, and maybe Sky should have remembered that. Lord of the Rings: "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." Shall l get that tattooed? Somewhere.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

Entertainment

Coronation Street star living life to the fullest after beating cancer

02 Jul 09:23 PM
EntertainmentUpdated

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

02 Jul 06:07 PM
Sport|athletics

Arli Liberman: The art of scoring in sport

02 Jul 06:01 AM

Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

Coronation Street star living life to the fullest after beating cancer

Coronation Street star living life to the fullest after beating cancer

02 Jul 09:23 PM

In 2019, Sally raised £100,000 for Prevent Breast Cancer by trekking to Everest base camp.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

02 Jul 06:07 PM
Arli Liberman: The art of scoring in sport

Arli Liberman: The art of scoring in sport

02 Jul 06:01 AM
The reason behind Hilary Barry's absence from Seven Sharp

The reason behind Hilary Barry's absence from Seven Sharp

02 Jul 04:35 AM
Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper
sponsored

Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP