Sky wants $80m to fund interactive push

By GEOFF SENESCALL

Pay television operator Sky TV was approaching institutions last night in a bid to raise $80 million.

The company is looking to place about 20 million shares at 399c each, according to institutional sources.

Overnight it was contacting overseas institutions to take part in the issue after tapping local institutions late yesterday. It hopes to have the placement completed by this morning.

Sky's chief operating officer, John Fellet, declined to comment, but analysts said Sky was looking to raise the money to expand the interactive side of its business.

Sky was likely to go on the acquisition trail, buying up companies involved in that field, the analysts said.

Indeed, Sky's chief executive, Nate Smith, indicated with the release of its annual result on Monday that it intended to launch soon its interactive software Open TV - featuring interactive weather and games as well as e-mail services.

"Interactive game show and sporting events, home shopping, concert bookings and clothing purchases will all ultimately become part of Sky's interactive future," he said.

It planned in the middle of next year to introduce a new generation of set-top decoders that would have up to 20 hours of video storage capacity.

"This storage will mark a revolution in television viewing, allowing the customer to watch what he wants when he wants," Mr Smith said.

Up to three channels of pay-per-view movies would be launched in October.

Sky's share price closed steady yesterday at 420c.

This follows its reporting a bigger loss for the June year, with higher costs affecting the bottom line as the company continues its move to digital technology.

Sky announced a $29.97 million net loss. Investors, however, shrugged the loss off, saying it reflected the company's migration to new technology.

Sky's operating cash flow grew marginally, reaching $74.1 million compared with last year's $73.7 million.