Creating the new Sky

This morning we have announced plans to expand internationally by combining with Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia.  

Here is Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch’s message to Sky staff.

Today we have announced plans to bring together BSkyB, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland to create a world-class, multinational pay TV business with almost 20 million customers and 33,000 employees across Germany, Austria, Italy, the UK and Ireland.

The three companies complement each other well. We all operate businesses that look similar and offer similar products, and of course we share the same brand. But our affiliation goes deeper than that. We may work in different countries, but our corporate culture and values are familiar. Our teams know each other well and have a history of working together. Brian Sullivan, CEO of Sky Deutschland and Andrea Zappia, CEO of Sky Italia are outstanding leaders who have been close colleagues of mine for many years. So I am confident that this is a combination that will work well.

Each of the three Sky businesses has built a strong position in its home market through providing customers with more choice, better content and a superior TV experience. We want to build on these local strengths by creating a new company that is able to serve customers better, accelerate innovation and compete more effectively in an increasingly global marketplace. We’ll do this by leveraging the strengths of each business, sharing best practice and doing things together where it makes sense to do so, but without ever losing our relentless focus on customers who are the key to our success.

Joining together in this way will help us to grow faster – reaching out to more of the 66 million households who have yet to take pay TV in our markets, selling more services to existing customers and launching new products in multiple territories. The opportunity is substantial and that is why we believe this is great news for customers and shareholders alike.

It’s also great news for all our people across the three Sky businesses. A larger, multinational group creates more opportunities for talented people to stretch themselves and take on new challenges. It also provides the chance to learn from each other and do things better.

The creation of the enlarged group involves BSkyB buying 100% of Sky Italia and 57% of Sky Deutschland from 21st Century Fox.  BSkyB is also making an offer to buy the remaining 43% of Sky Deutschland shares that are publicly traded. There is no change to 21st Century Fox’s 39% shareholding in BSkyB as a result of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. We expect this process to take several months to complete. We will keep you updated as things progress.

I very much look forward to working with Brian, Andrea and all of our colleagues as part of the enlarged group. The opportunity ahead is an exciting one for us. Thank you for your hard work and support.