News | Sunday, 10 January 2010

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Sky TV set to penetrate Maltese digital market

GO-Melita digital TV duopoly to face serious competition over major sports events and exclusivity

Matthew Vella
The international TV subscription service Sky Digital is to become the new player in the Maltese digital TV market, with the registration of its company Sky Malta.
Spearheading the initiative are Paul and Michael Hili of Hili International, and members of the Bianchi group, namely Michael, Raphael and Mark.
They have joined forces with Sir Julian Horn-Smith – a former deputy chief executive of Vodafone Group plc and formerly chairman of The Sage Group, developers of the accountancy software. The other director is Andre Sokol, previously group director of mergers and acquisitions at Vodafone Group plc.
MaltaToday is informed that the company is already in talks with the Malta Communications Authority over the exclusivity it already owns on the broadcast of sports events.
This newspaper understands that Sky will tell the MCA that its competitors – GO and Melita plc – will not be able to enjoy the exclusivity they already have on selected sports events, since Sky already possesses rights of its own on the same events.
An aggressive TV offering of sports events, films and a plethora of TV channels by Sky will be the first major competition for the Go-Melita duopoly, also the island’s only quad-play operators (TV, internet, mobile and telephone).
Additionally, it is an open secret that many consumers and sports clubs in Malta stream Sky satellite TV into their homes and clubs via internet, using a Sky satellite card purchased in Italy which they update regularly.

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