Sky in talks on 'triple play'

SATELLITE broadcaster Sky is in talks with local telecoms operators about providing telephone and broadband services to its 675,000 subscribers in the Republic.

"There are talks ongoing," BSkyB's chief financial officer Andrew Griffith told The Irish Timesthis week.

Mr Griffith declined to identify the parties with which Sky is negotiating but it is understood to be in dialogue with Eircom and BT, who could provide wholesale services to the broadcaster. Agreeing a deal with either would allow Sky to offer bundled “triple play” services of TV, phone and broadband. Cable rival UPC Ireland is already offering that to its customers.

“We do look at the market opportunities for broadband and talk in Ireland,” Mr Griffith said. “The [Irish] market is a bit different [from the UK], the way the local loop is owned and operated.

“We looked for many years in the UK before the economics of unbundling were such that we felt we could put an attractive offer to customers.

“We would look to partner with others [in Ireland] and so it depends on the economics we are able to obtain . . . as to whether we could launch a product.”

Even if a deal was agreed this year, it would be 2013 before Sky could offer triple play here, due to the complexity involved in launching such an offer.

Sky this week announced plans to recruit 800 staff in Ireland over the next two years for a new customer support centre. These activities have previously been handled by call centres in Scotland.

Mr Griffith said this involved an investment of between €20 million and €30 million by Sky.

“We felt, and we’ve felt this for a while, but we’ve not always had the resources to follow through, that serving our Irish customers from the Republic is the best thing to do.” In terms of its trading in Ireland in 2011, Mr Griffith said Sky “ended the year with more customers than we started with”.

“We grew the number of products that people take from us, particularly HD [high definition] but it’s fair to say that the market in Ireland and the UK was challenging.”

Sky does not publish financials for its Irish business.

Mr Griffith said Sky was also keen to make more content for its stations in Ireland. "Right now, we're making Moonboyin the Irish Republic and we'll be doing more of that."