Premiere Sky is from July

[wikisat]

Premiere Sky is from July

The pay-Channel will premiere in July, its new pay-TV offer under the name Sky to start. That gave the pay-TV broadcaster announced on Thursday.

The objective is, through the changes the customer a totally new viewing experience to offer, said the chief executive Mark Williams in Munich.

Source: sat + kabel

New pay-TV service launches in Germany and Austria

• New offer trades under the name Sky
• From July 2009 customers will benefit from the extensive improvements
• Renaming the Sky Premiere AG in Germany AG subject to the approval of shareholders
• Extraordinary depreciation of the mark Premiere
• No impact on existing customer contracts

Munich, 14 May 2009. Premiere AG, in July 2009 a new pay-TV service launch. The new offering is called Sky and the offer to replace existing Premiere.

Mark Williams, Chief Executive Officer: "I am delighted that our plans for a new pay-TV service announced. The aim is to change the customer a totally new viewing experience to offer. The renamed Sky underscores our willingness, in Germany and Austria, an entertainment offering world-class offering. The Sky brand stands for an unparalleled selection of TV entertainment, high-quality program that subscribers only find here at home for innovative offerings and a high level of customer satisfaction through an extensive service. The many improvements will be from July to come into force. Our customers can look forward to further improvements in the coming months and years ahead, look. "

The Board has, with the consent of the Supervisory Board decided to premiere the brand not be used. Therefore, the value of the mark in the 2nd Premiere Quarter will be fully depreciated. This reduces the net in the 2nd Quarter to 256.1 million €. The net effect resulted from the depreciation of the book value amounting to € 331.6 million and an offsetting deferred tax income of € 75.5 million.

Subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting will be the name of the company of Premiere AG "to" Sky Germany AG "should be amended.

Today's announcement is another step in the strategic realignment of the company. In the past six months, the new management already significant success: the closure of the security gap, securing rights to the Bundesliga in 2013 and a successful recapitalization. The decision, a new offering under the Sky brand to market, is part of the objectives of management, a stronger customer focus and to pay TV in Germany and Austria to make a breakthrough.

Today's decision has no impact on existing customer contracts. Nevertheless, all Premiere subscribers have the option of the new offer from the launch of Sky in July to take over. Details on a new pricing structure and offer the beginning of June to be announced.

The mark of Sky and related trademarks have been licensed by BSkyB.

Source: premiere

[sofien72tu]

Premiere to relaunch as Sky
Jörn Krieger
14-05-2009

As reported , German pay-TV operator Premiere will market its bouquets under the name Sky after its relaunch in July. The management board, with approval from the supervisory board, has decided to discontinue the use of the brand Premiere. The value of the Premiere trademark will therefore be written off in the second quarter with a negative impact on net income of €256.1 million.

sky_deutschlandSubject to approval by shareholders at the annual general meeting, the name of the company will be changed from Premiere AG to Sky Deutschland AG. According to a press release issued by the Munich-based broadcaster, the decision to launch a new service under the Sky brand is part of the management’s commitment to focus the business on its customers and to raise the bar of pay-TV in Germany and Austria. Details of the new pricing and package structure will be announced at the beginning of June.

“We intend to make changes that will fundamentally improve the experience for customers,” said CEO Mark Williams. “Becoming Sky underscores our commitment to offer a world-class entertainment service in Germany and Austria. The Sky brand stands for the best choice of television entertainment available, giving customers high-quality programming that they cannot find elsewhere, putting innovative services into their homes and improving satisfaction with strong customer service.” A spokesman stressed that for existing subscribers nothing would change, with contracts continuing to run as previously.

Within the industry, the name change has been expected. International media concern News Corp, which with 30.5% is the largest single shareholder in Premiere, uses the trademark Sky for its pay-TV offers in the UK and Italy.

Premiere has also released its quarterly figures, revealing that the broadcaster has incurred further subscription losses. At the end of the first quarter on 31 March the company had 2.37 million customers – 28,000 less than at the end of 2008. With the costly closure of security gaps in its encryption system last year, Premiere hoped to put a stop to the downward trend.

Turnover rose slightly in the first quarter in comparison with the previous year’s period from €231.0 million to €232.7 million, while EBITDA slid deep into the red with a minus of €29.8 million. In the first quarter of 2008 the company was able to record a positive EBITDA of €2.9 million. The net loss rose from €28.1 million to €80.0 million. With extensive plans in the fields of sales & marketing and customer service, Premiere hopes to push subscription figures up after the July relaunch. However, a net profit is not now expected until 2011.

Some much needed good news for Premiere came from Bavaria’s media authority BLM, which approved the broadcaster’s licence application for four new thematic channels. The services carry the working titles Premiere Sp-1, Premiere Sp-2, Premiere Sp-3 and Premiere Hits.

The first three offers will be sports channels reporting on national and international sporting events. The focus of Premiere Sp-1 will be the 1st and 2nd divisions of the soccer Bundesliga, while Premiere Sp-2 will feature the DFB Pokal (German football federation cup), international soccer, motor sport, ice hockey, golf and tennis. Premiere Sp-3 will have the same focus as Sp-2 and additionally offer further sports.

Premiere Hits is a movie channel which will screen current blockbusters and previous years’ releases. Germany’s anti-media-concentration commission KEK has already given the green light to the new channels.