Pay TV giant Sky comes to Switzerland and takes over Homedia
Sky Deutschland has acquired Homedia, a company based in western Switzerland that offers DVDs and video-on-demand services under the Hollystar brand.
With the takeover of Homedia, Europe's largest pay-TV broadcaster is gaining a direct foothold in Switzerland: Swisscom subsidiary Teleclub previously held the broadcasting rights for Sky programs such as Bundesliga football matches in Switzerland. In addition to Swisscom TV, Sky content can also be seen on Sunrise and UPC television services.
Support in the fight against Netflix and Amazon
With the sale to Sky, Hollystar is gaining support in its fight against the American streaming services Netflix and Amazon, which are attracting more and more customers with films and series in this country too. "We need exclusive content for this," said Hollystar CEO Eric Grignon in an interview with the news agency SDA on Wednesday. Sky is the largest content provider in Europe.
The company, which is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has 22 million customers in Europe. Sky is the leading pay-TV channel in the UK, Germany, Austria, Italy and Ireland. In addition to live sport, Sky also offers feature films, series, children's programs and documentaries. Sky Germany alone has a turnover of 2 billion euros and 4.9 million subscribers.
Supplier for UPC, Sunrise and Co.
Hollystar, based in Neuchâtel, is estimated to be one of the four largest video providers in Switzerland. The company provides its video offerings for the TV platforms of Sunrise, the cable network operators UPC and Quickline, the telecom provider VTX, the online TV provider Teleboy and the book, music, film and games seller Ex Libris.
Hollystar is also available to private customers online and via an app. Currently, 35,000 private customers have subscribed to Hollystar, said Grignon.
Nothing will change for customers of Sunrise, UPC and Co. as a result of the takeover of Hollystar by Sky, said Grignon. The content will remain available there. Sky's goal is to have as many partners as possible in Switzerland for the distribution of the broadcasts. Sky also wants to continue its partnership with Teleclub, said Grignon, who will remain at the helm of Hollystar.
It is not yet clear whether Hollystar's end customers will now also be able to enjoy live sports broadcasts. Sky Deutschland spokesperson Julia Buchmaier said in response to an inquiry that the strategic and content orientation would now be worked out in detail: "In any case, Hollystar customers will benefit from the extensive and top-class Sky portfolio in the sports, series and fiction sectors."
No job cuts
Nothing will change for Hollystar's 25 employees as a result of the change of ownership. There will be no redundancies. Sky wants to expand in Switzerland, said Grignon. Grignon did not want to say how much the pay-TV giant had paid for the purchase of Hollystar: the parties had agreed not to disclose the sale price. Sky Deutschland has acquired 100 percent of the French-speaking Swiss company, which was founded in 2003 as a DVD rental company by Renzo del Mastro and Sébastien D'Amico, who previously held the majority. (Johannes Brinkmann /SDA)
