Sky Germany suffers over Paramount decision
January 3, 2012
By Chris Forrester
We reported on December 27 that Sky Deutschland would not be renewing its output deal with Paramount studios. That day saw its shares fall by 2.6 per cent. December 28 saw a fall of 2 per cent, at one point hitting €1.37, its lowest level for the past 52 weeks. A rally late on December 29 saw a recovery to €1.44, but even this surge is well down on the past year’s ‘high’ of €3.79, which shows the volatility in the stock and the current uncertainties over Sky Deutschland’s future challenges.
CEO Brian Sullivan’s decision to drop Paramount saves him some cash (and the studio’s better output will reportedly remain available on a PPV basis) in readiness for the bidding for upcoming soccer rights, notably the Bundesliga soccer league. Sky-D considers season-long soccer to be more important to sports-mad German fans than the odd hit such as Mission Impossible or Tintin.
Of course, negotiations with studios are never over until they’re over. And this level of discussions might extend well into the 2012 New Year. There is still a possibility that a deal could be done