“We know how much the Premier League means to football fans, so we are delighted to renew our agreement for another six seasons,” said Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney.
“Securing this extension speaks to the strength of the partnership Sky has built with the Premier League, and our focus on securing the content that matters most to our customers.”
Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney has a portfolio of sport wrapped up for another four to eight years. Photo montage / Phil Welch
Sky’s announcement came with the release of its financial results.
Its underlying revenue for the 12 months to June 30 was $826.1 million, up 9%, and underlying ebitda was $157m, up 6% and at the higher end of guidance.
Its underlying net profit after tax was $41.8m, up 2%.
“The board has declared a full imputed final dividend of 17cps, bringing the total FY26 dividend to 32cps, up 45% year-on-year and 113% over three years, comfortably exceeding Sky’s target to double the FY23 dividend,” Sky said in a statement.
Moloney said: “Three years ago, we set ambitious targets reflecting our confidence in Sky and the opportunity ahead.
“Since then, we have navigated a challenging economic environment while completing two significant projects – the accelerated satellite migration in FY25 and the acquisition and integration of Sky Free in FY26.
“We finish this period a stronger Sky – larger, more diversified and increasingly digital, with greater audience scale and more opportunities for growth.
“The benefits of the expanded business are already evident. We now reach more New Zealanders across paid and free-to-air, broadcast and digital, giving audiences more choice in how they engage with Sky, while advertisers can connect with larger and more diverse audiences through a single integrated offering.”
Sky has had a rollercoaster 12 months, acquiring Three from Warner Brothers for $1, and merging teams in a difficult advertising economy.
Its streaming platform Neon lost HBO Max content on June 16 – so the full impact of that loss won’t be known until this financial year.
Nevertheless, Sky said in its annual report today: “After a challenging first half Neon customers rebounded strongly, with five consecutive months of growth to close the year at over 252,000, only fractionally behind FY25. This saw Neon revenue up 2% on the prior year to $52.0m”.
The big question is where that number will be in 12 months.
Meanwhile, Sky said trading conditions were expected to remain challenging in the first half of FY27, “with the timing and strength of economic recovery uncertain”.
“Sky’s FY27 guidance is for revenue of between $825m and $840m, ebitda of between $155m and $165m, and capital expenditure of between $60m and $65m. In line with Sky’s target to deliver 10% annual dividend growth, dividend guidance is for at least 35 cents per share.”
Solid result had been expected
Earlier, Forsyth Barr analyst Ben Crozier was expecting a “solid result”, with three key areas of focus for him: the number of sport subscribers and revenue; Sky Free’s commercial and costs performance (Sky acquired TV3/Three last August); and the performance of its streaming service Neon, especially since the loss of HBO Max content and hit shows such as The Pitt.
In a research note, Crozier said he expected Sky Box subscribers to have fallen by about 14,000 in the second half of financial year 2026. That was in line with recent run rates and was partially offset by “solid” average revenue per user growth.
On Neon, he said: “With the removal of HBO content in mid-June, all focus will be on subscriber trends over the last two months. We expect revenue to meaningfully fall in FY27 to $36m from a ~$50m prior run-rate”.
He also expected about 12% revenue growth for the Sky Sport Now streaming platform.
While Sky was unlikely to specify its Three revenues, he said “slowing declines in total linear advertising would be taken well”.
“We also expect a meaningful focus on the outlook. SKT’s [Sky TV’s] last three-year targets were released in FY23 (for FY26); with the acquisition of Sky Free and renewal of key sports rights, we expect SKT to be in a position to provide new medium-term targets.”
He believed a dividend target of more than 35c per share by FY29 “would be taken well by the market”.
The company was also in a “very attractive net cash position” of $60m-$70m, and clarity on how it intended to return this to shareholders or invest it at attractive rates of return “would be welcome”.
Earlier financial results posted to the Companies Office show Three posted a net loss of almost $5 million in calendar year 2025, an improvement on the hundreds of millions of dollars lost in previous years.
But Sky TV still faces a massive challenge as it continues to bed-in free-to-air Three company into its operation – financial statements show Three advertising revenue fell from $102.6m in 2024 to $79.7m in 2025, a 22.3% drop.
In February, Media Insider revealed that Sky TV was tracking below expected advertising revenue in the early weeks of 2026. It earlier conceded the market was “softer”.
Sky TV lost its respected sales leader Ben Gibb last year, after the Three deal. Gibb walked into a leadership role at outdoor advertising company QMS.
TV3’s former boss, Juliet Peterson, then departed Sky in April, followed by sales leader James Hole later that month.
Hole had just helped lead a major restructure of Sky TV’s commercial teams – essentially pulling together the sales teams of the traditional Sky business with those who came across from Three.
Sky has said it expects the Three deal to be positive for free cash flow from this financial year and has reiterated its commitment to a 30 cents per share annual dividend.
Moloney indicated last year that tough work was ahead.
“You don’t get something for a dollar if it’s profitable, but we’ve structured this so we’ve got time – the runway, as we say – to get to that ebitda growth of at least $10m by FY28.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.