During the third quarter of 2025, Sky NZ purchased Warner Bros Discovery’s FTA linear and streaming assets in New Zealand, through the acquisition of WBD’s local subsidiary, Discovery NZ. By doing so, Sky NZ added five free-to-air channels (Bravo, Eden, Rush, HGTV, and most importantly, Three, the second-most-watched channel in the country) and ThreeNow, an ad-supported streaming platform, to its TV and streaming portfolio. This acquisition is a major move for Sky NZ, which was already the uncontested local leader in pay TV and subscription-based streaming (through its Neon and Sky Sport Now platforms). Across all services, its subscriber base amounts to a bit less than 900K, while Netflix, the number one paid streaming platform in the country (followed by Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video), gathers around 1.3M subscribers. With Three and ThreeNow, Sky NZ will be able to enter a new dimension in the FTA and ad-supported landscape, ready to challenge TVNZ, the local FTA leader. TVNZ generated 266M NZD (through TV and streaming) in advertising revenue in its last fiscal year ended 30th June 2025. The BVOD platforms TVNZ+ and ThreeNow boast respectively more than 1.6M and 700K users every week. Dominated by YouTube and TVNZ+, the competition in the ad-supported streaming market has intensified over the last quarters, with several actors introducing ads on their platforms (Neon since January 2024, Sky Sport Now since October 2024, and most recently Amazon since the end of August). Historically focused on sports, Sky NZ will hope to capitalize on this acquisition to create synergies and cross-selling opportunities between its paid and free services, and consolidate its position as New Zealand’s ultimate media powerhouse.
