TVNZ

"In its negotiations, Sky tried to persuade the studios to allow it to take movies directly after their cinematic release. Sometimes studios would agree because, Heatley says, they did not like TVNZ. The New Zealand broadcaster had a take it or leave it attitude when it came to negotiating and relied on studios preferring to get some kind of return from New Zealand rather than none at all, he contends. While there was no competition, that approach worked. It might have annoyed and frustrated studios, but it was advantageous for TVNZ and for taxpayers since it meant that movies could be purchased more cheaply. He says that often studios would tell Sky that it would get a deal at reduced cost ‘just to piss off TVNZ because it had a reputation for arrogance’."

"Establishing themselves was not easy or cheap. Jarvis and Heatley, sometimes together, sometimes separately, spent months on planes—flying economy class to Britain or the US, getting off the plane, attending a meeting and sometimes heading back home the same night. For more than a year the fledgling Sky negotiated with CNN and the main stumbling block was not money, although that was challenging enough, but persuading CNN that Sky would one day exist as a credible and responsible network and a worthy host of CNN coverage. Heatley is persuasive and a natural salesman, but media companies take seriously their reputations and no matter how much cash went with the deal, the New Zealanders were asking the mostly American companies they were meeting to take a leap of faith. CNN was ambitious for worldwide coverage but was hedging its bets by also talking to TVNZ. The state broadcaster wanted a news feed from CNN that would allow TVNZ to put CNN segments in its own news bulletins or to cross live to CNN reporters when required. But Sky wanted CNN exclusively, and for a good chunk of 24 hours a day. Sky was offering a few hundred thousand dollars a year but so was TVNZ, and it was asking for a lot less."