Sky, Warehouse link up to sell UHF services

By NZPA

Friday 6th September 2002

Discount retailer The Warehouse and pay TV company Sky Network Television have joined forces to market Sky's UHF subscriptions.

Subscriptions to Sky's UHF service that includes SKY Sport, SKY Movies, SKY 1, Discovery Channel and CNN will be on sale at 67 of The Warehouse's 78 "Red shed" stores from the beginning of October.

The stores selling Sky are all located within UHF service zones.

Warehouse shoppers will be able to purchase the first month's Sky subscription and a discounted installation fee from The Warehouse and then ring Sky direct to arrange for the UHF aerial and decoder to be installed.

The ongoing customer relationship is with Sky.

"Traditionally Sky has used direct channels for all its sales. We have avoided a traditional retail sales model because of the complicated nature of our packages and services," Sky chief executive John Fellet said.

"Under this arrangement we get the upsides of a retail presence while still retaining a direct relationship with the customer from the outset," he said.

"With its history of delivering a bargain, The Warehouse is ideally suited for selling the UHF product because it's the most cost effective way to get hooked up to Sky TV."

Mr Fellet said the long term future for Sky was in its digital services, but UHF still had huge value because of its fixed cost to the company.

Customers could get Sky installed through The Warehouse for $20, then pay a monthly subscription fee priced from $29.96.

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