SkyTV Revolution “My Sky” Launch Date Confirmed

Sky Television Leads Television Revolution “My Sky” Launch Date Confirmed

SKY Television today unveiled “MY SKY”, the personal video recorder (PVR), to be launched on 5 December 2005, which will forever change the way New Zealanders watch television.

“MY SKY” is a revolutionary service that will offer SKY Digital subscribers unprecedented control over their television viewing.

IMAGINE pressing a button and never missing an episode of your favourite series

IMAGINE recording your favourite shows without using messy video tapes

IMAGINE your TV waited until you’d finished that phone call

IMAGINE instant replay 24 hours a day – whatever you’re watching

John Fellet, Chief Executive, SKY Television, says “MY SKY” is the most exciting broadcasting innovation to be offered to New Zealanders since SKY introduced digital television in 1998. “This is the beginning of a television revolution that will literally change the way that New Zealanders watch television. “MY SKY” gives viewers the power to plan their TV viewing around their life, instead of the other way around. Viewers can now create their very own TV station.”

“MY SKY” is a digital set-top box that uses a hard-disk drive to record and replay content from more than 80 SKY channels including sports, movies, news, documentaries, lifestyle, music and general entertainment programming. “MY SKY” is the only device of its kind that will integrate with SKY’s state-of-the-art digital Electronic Programme Guide. This means that with a single touch of a button, viewers can select from the on-screen programme guide the programmes that they want to record.

“MY SKY” records up to 60 hours of television to be viewed at any time. Subscribers to this innovative SKY service will have increased control over their viewing through a range of revolutionary functions including the ability to pause live TV, record two channels at once, record at the touch of a button without needing videotapes as well as the ability to programme “MY SKY” to automatically record every episode of a favourite series.

Mr Fellet says increasingly busy lifestyles and new technological advances mean consumers expect to have more control over their lives. “In the music arena, products such as iPod have been a huge success because they put the power of choice in people’s hands. It makes sense that television should be the next frontier for change and that SKY is leading that change in New Zealand.”

Internationally, personal digital recording services have excited consumers with services such as TiVo in the United States, Sky+ in the United Kingdom, and most recently, FOXTEL iQ in Australia leading the way.

In conjunction with the new service, SKY is streamlining and updating its Electronic Programme Guide. Subscribers will find it easy to record their favourite programme thanks to an on-screen “scroll and select” menu arranged by genres such as sport, movies, news, kids, documentary, and general entertainment.

Subscribers don’t need to be technologically savvy to enjoy the new “MY SKY” service. Key benefits for consumers are its ease-of-use and after sales support. “MY SKY” has clear advantages over the purchase of other personal digital recording devices sold on a stand alone basis. The “MY SKY” warranty never runs out and SKY will service the box if there are any faults. “MY SKY” will never be outdated as SKY has the ability to continually upgrade “MY SKY” ensuring subscribers have access to the latest technology, functionality and features which SKY will continue to introduce.

“MY SKY” will be available to both new and existing SKY subscribers from 5th December 2005 for a one-off connection fee of $599.00. There will be no extra monthly subscription fee.

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About SKY Television

SKY Television (SKY), broadcasting via both UHF and DTH is New Zealand’s pre-eminent Pay TV operator, offering a wide range of sports, movies, music, on-demand and general content across more than 80 channels. SKY’s channel line-up includes 6 sports channels, 5 movie channels, 5 general entertainment channels, 4 documentary channels, 3 news channels, 3 children’s channels, as well as other niche channels. (At end-June 2005, SKY had 619,168 subscribers.)

SKY launched as a three-channel UHF service in 1990, with two further channels added four years later. SKY’s UHF signal reaches more than 83% of the country’s 1.5 million households. In December 1998 it launched a digital satellite service, extending its reach to the whole country. SKY also offers pay-per-view movies, live events and interactive services including Skybet, the Weather Channel, and games channel Playin’ TV.

For further information, please visit SKY’s web site at http://www.skytv.co.nz

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