Sky Latin uses Zenith/C-Cube boxes................................
herald.com
Published Thursday, October 1, 1998, in the Miami Herald
Satellite service provider grows
By MIMI WHITEFIELD
Herald Business Writer
When Sky Latin America launched its direct-to-home satellite television service in Chile on Sunday, it featured the Colo-Colo vs. Universidad de Chile game, pitting the two soccer teams with the most intense rivalry in this soccer-mad country.
Like many big games in the United States, the matchup known as "El Clasico'' is usually blacked out in the capital of Santiago. But Sky, which has a $140 million satellite uplink/downlink center in Miami Lakes, broadcast the game at seven Santiago malls, as well as on a movie-theater-size screen at a party it threw for 1,800 people.
In the process, Chile took notice. Two malls drew crowds of more than 1,000 to big screens set up next to Sky booths, and after the game the number of calls Sky received inquiring about its service quadrupled.
Promotions and programming like this is what makes Sky the fastest-growing regional direct-to-home satellite television provider in Latin America.
Less than a year ago when the Miami Lakes facility opened, the service had 150,000 subscribers in Brazil and Mexico, and Galaxy Latin America -- its chief rival in the fledgling Latin American satellite business -- had a significant headstart in the market.
Now Sky has 400,000 subscribers, not including the new customers it is picking up in Chile. Galaxy, whose operations base is in Fort Lauderdale, offers service in 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries, but it doesn't release regional subscriber figures.
Miro Copic, Sky's vice president for marketing and sales, says that Sky's service -- a joint venture of Brazil's Organizacoes Globo, Mexico's Grupo Televisa, The News Corp., and Tele-Communications International -- has surpassed Galaxy's subscriber base in both Mexico and Brazil.
Alberto Ennis, Galaxy's vice president of programming, concedes Sky has the lead in Mexico, but says that in Brazil, Galaxy's DirecTV service still holds the lead, because Sky uses a different method of calculating subscribers there.
"Overall, we have far and away more customers in Latin America,'' Ennis said.
Although Sky offers service only in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile, it plans to be in Argentina by the end of the year, and intends to launch in Venezuela and Peru during the first six months of next year.
"Certainly our competitor [Galaxy] is a very strong group,'' said Copic, a bit jet-lagged Wednesday from an all-night flight from Buenos Aires, "but we think our system offers some clear advantages to the consumer.''
One of those advantages, say Sky executives, is its local programming orientation. Unlike some satellite providers, Sky includes local broadcast channels in its offerings as well as special events and programming that are meaningful in local markets.
"We want to be able to tap into local interests,'' said Thomas Free Alves, Sky's vice president of programming.
That strategy includes snagging exclusive rights to popular sporting events, as well as prospecting for concerts and other regional events that might not otherwise be available to Latin American viewers.
When Sky was relatively new to the Mexican market, for example, it had exclusive live rights for both the Luciano Pavarotti concert at the Chichen Itza ruins and the ear-biting Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight in June 1997. It offered them to subscribers for no extra charge. Now such events would be part of Sky's pay-for-view menu in Mexico.
Sky also recently acquired exclusive worldwide pay television broadcast rights for Colombian National Soccer League games. Next season, Sky will broadcast four matches per week, building up to six matches weekly by the year 2000.
In Chile, it offers Super Domingo de Futbol, five hours of Sunday soccer programming featuring two games, commentary, and pre- and post-game shows.
Sky executives, who declined to reveal any specific financial data about the company, say they'd like their subscribers to think of them more as a network with a distinct identity, rather than just a collection of mostly international channels delivered by the Sky system.
Sky, which has 200 employees at its Miami Lakes offices, delivers 150 video and audio channels, ranging from Fox Sports Americas, HBO, and Discovery Channel, to Nickelodeon, CNN and Globo News.
Satellite providers also regard cable television as a major competitor. Though cable TV has a penetration rate of 55 percent in Argentina, the overall penetration rate in Latin America is only about 15 percent.
"There are markets where cable is poorly penetrated, and there's a huge upside opportunity for everyone there,'' Copic said.
During the next 10 years, Copic expects the satellite market in Latin America will grow to 7 million to 10 million customers. Sky, he said, hopes to have at least 5 million of them.
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