Lobbyist is Murdoch's man about the House

Both National and Labour have adopted a "market rules" broadcasting policy, and National's pro-business philosophy played a key role in the decision to kill Labour's review of broadcasting regulation.

But Sky's assiduous lobbyist Tony O'Brien has also illustrated its relentless focus on keeping politicians on side and staving off regulation that could hit the company's profits.

At state TV, PR men came and went with TVNZ chief executives in the 1990s and 2000s, but the double act of O'Brien and Sky Television chief executive John Fellet has been remarkably consistent.

During 19 years working Parliament for Sky, O'Brien has become part of the furniture in the corridors of power, enjoying easy access.

He is so well-known that the Murdoch representative is one of a handful of corporate lobbyists who has special security clearance and easy access.

On one occasion an official in Steve Maharey's office arrived early to find O'Brien had already dropped into the Beehive and left flowers as a friendly gesture to one of Maharey's staffers.

O'Brien has been a popular figure at Parliamentary Services, the body that runs Parliament and is overseen by the Speaker of The House.

The halcyon days for mixing it up with politicians were from 1999 to 2005, when the Speaker was former Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Hunt.

O'Brien was a friend and a frequent guest at the Speaker's flat, adjacent to the debating chamber, parliamentary insiders say. Hunt - who was Sky's first customer - was popular with some inside Labour and his opinions were respected by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

At one point Sky was on track to operate the new parliamentary television service, broadcasting the House in action, following behind the scenes discussions.

Relations with Maharey, however, were cool. The ad hoc allocation of the contract was halted after the intervention of Green Leader Rod Donald, then handed to state TV.

One of O'Brien's smartest initiatives has been organising away trips for the Parliamentary rugby team, with Sky contributing some of the costs and organising other corporate sponsors.

These trips gave Sky the unique opportunity for quality time with MPs, including Cabinet ministers, away from Parliament.

When Maharey left as minister, rugby team member Trevor Mallard took over and Sky was surprised that he opted to continue with the regulatory review. In the words of one adversary: "Sky's failing is to overestimate the influence of a lunch or a friendly gesture."

But Sky was on firm philosophical turf with National.

Parliamentary observers say Sky's lobbying success happened because O'Brien focused a lot of time and energy on minor figures on the periphery of power.

A good example was the lobbying of the innocuous MP Gordon Copeland, who was encouraged by Sky to introduce legislation which - had it not been rejected by National MPs - would have saved Sky millions of dollars.

Nobody was surprised when National killed the review; revamping broadcasting is not going to win votes.

Sky was blindsided by Labour's decision to hold the review. Despite National having killed off that threat for now, Sky will be putting in a big lobbying effort to make sure Labour is brought back on side.