Broadcaster wars: Sky TV rolls out its Sky Pod - without TVNZ channels

Sky's new Sky Pod ($100). The new device is being rolled out from today to customers of Vodafone TV, which is being sunsetted - but will later be more widely available.

Sky TV has finally started the rollout of its new Sky Pod today - but a conspicuous absence: It does not offer live access to TVNZ’s broadcast channels.

Sky Pod owners can still access TVNZ, but only via the state-owned broadcaster’s live and on-demand streaming app, TVNZ+ (read my full Sky Pod review here).

The Sky Pod does feature live channels from other free-to-air broadcasters who have “quite happily” played ball, according to a Sky insider.

Sky TV is in the process of releasing two new bits of hardware: Its new Sky Box ($200 upfront), which will be the replacement for the current decoder for most Sky customers, and the trimmed-down Sky Pod ($100 upfront), which is aimed at the up to 100,000 people who used to use Vodafone TV.

Both the Sky Box and the Sky Pod support third-party apps, such as Netflix, Disney+ and TVNZ+, but the cheaper Sky Pod lacks a hard drive. Another difference: The Sky Pod receives TV channels via UFB fibre broadband rather than the satellite dish used by the Sky Box.

The Sky Box does feature TVNZ’s channels (TVNZ1, TVNZ2 and Duke) in its TV guide.

The two broadcasters simply couldn’t reach an agreement over the regular or “linear” versions of TVNZ’s channels being included on the new Sky Pod, despite the device (and the new Sky Box) being subject to more than six months of delays.

TVNZ responds

“We haven’t come to an arrangement for TVNZ channels to be retransmitted via IP on the Sky Pod TV Guide,” a TVNZ spokeswoman told the Herald.

“Access to our channels needs to complement our digital strategy and business needs. In this case, we haven’t found a way forward that suits both TVNZ and Sky.”

The lack of TVNZ channels on the Sky Pod is Sky’s second major headache with its new hardware.

The first was delays, which saw Sky spend $7 million “keeping the lights on” at Vodafone TV after the telco decided to shutter its pay TV service, which it operated under a wholesale deal with Sky.

Will to Power

Keeping its channels from the Sky Pod is the latest in a series of hard-nosed moves by TVNZ.

Earlier this year, the state-owned broadcaster announced a deal with Spark that will see Spark Sport content move to TVNZ channels from July 1.

TVNZ also pulled its content from Freeview’s collectively run on-demand platform - effectively delivering it a death sentence. The broadcaster said it wanted to concentrate its resources on its own TVNZ+.

And in January, TVNZ filed trademark opposition to Vodafone’s new “One” branding, although both sides say constructive talks continue.

The broadcaster recently reported a half-year profit that slumped by two-thirds to $4.8m as costs increased and it wore $1.17m of costs related to the abandoned merger with RNZ.

Sky shares were down