Dr. Mark Carpenter:

I will abbreviate in the interests of time. Sky is the leading TV platform in Ireland. It is watched by over 2 million viewers and delivers more than 500 channels, including the Irish public service channels such as those provided by my fellow attendees, to our customers across the country. Sky has been offering TV services to Irish customers since the early 1990s and we opened our Irish headquarters in Dublin in 2013. We now employ approximately 1,000 staff across a variety of roles, including in our retail stores up and down the country.

Sky is synonymous with sports, and sports broadcasting is at the heart of what Sky has been known for over the past three decades. We have invested billions in sport and this, in turn, has been used to further develop grassroots sport and facilities, including in Ireland. Sky has always been an excellent partner for sports rights holders. With Sky, rights holders know their sport will benefit from partnering with a company that brings world-class production values, outstanding marketing and a commitment to delivering high-quality content to our customers. The quality of this partnership can be seen by our ability to maintain long-term relationships with rights holders. These deals allow our Irish customers access to the best sporting content and commentary from around the world.

Closer to home, we had a long-term partnership with the GAA that began in 2014 and that ran up until the end of last season. We also get behind women’s sport in a major way. This can be seen, for example, in our coverage of the Women’s Super League, WSL, where 12 Irish internationals currently ply their trade. The WSL gets the full Sky Sports treatment, with a best-in-class on- and off-screen production team, lengthy build-ups and reaction to all live matches and plenty of behind the scenes footage. Our ability to cross-promote sport to sport also allows us to promote the WSL during a Premier League match, further driving viewing and engagement. In Ireland, we of course further support women’s football through our role as the primary partner of the women’s national team and I am sure the committee will join me in wishing the team the very best of luck in their campaign which kicks off in eight days’ time with a match against Australia.

Our commitment to televised sport also allows us to do things that simply are not possible for others. Over 11 separate, dedicated Sky Sports channels we provide in-depth analysis and detailed coverage at a level of breadth and depth other broadcasters simply would not have the scheduling space to match. We have also continued to innovate as technology has changed the way people view sport. This has included providing more flexibility to people, for example, by allowing them to dip in and out of our services through purchasing month or day passes from NOW TV rather than requiring a 12-month contract that may not suit everyone.

When we look at the future of sports broadcasting, one concern we would highlight is the continuing challenge posed by piracy. In this context, we would greatly welcome an increased focus by Government and law enforcement to emphasise the illegality of such services and the impact they have on legitimate, taxpaying businesses. One practical step that could be take in this regard would be for the Garda to be provided with additional resources so it is better placed to enforce the law and take action against individuals who are selling illegal devices or subscriptions and profiting from this activity. It is also worth noting sports piracy is often a gateway to piracy more generally and has a knock-on negative impact to the audiovisual and creative industries as a whole, in Ireland and across the world. I welcome questions from the committee on any and all of the above and look forward to the discussion.