Stephen van Rooyen's Speech at the Deloitte Enders Media and Telecoms Conference 2020

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It is a real privilege for me to be on this stage today - as someone who loves television - in a room filled with so many people who have contributed to the creation of some of the most compelling, original and enriching television that the UK has ever seen.

As you'd expect, I'm incredibly proud of the contribution Sky is making to this - The Golden Age of Television .

From the way our journalists at Sky News provide impartial, fact-based, in-depth coverage of today's news stories in an age blighted by fake news.

To the constant innovation and ever expanding coverage at Sky Sports - which, despite the cries of the death of live linear channels saw audiences rise by 15% last year.

To agenda setting, multi award winning Sky Original dramas like Chernobyl.

In 2020 we will bring 80 original drama, comedy and entertainment shows to our customers screens - that's 25% more than last year.

Our customers can look forward to shows like Punchdrunk Theatre's first TV production, Third Man, with Jude Law - another Sky/HBO co-production...

To the second series of a Sky Germany Original series, and a personal favourite of mine, Das Boot - Or a new satire, based on what we all really think about what it is to be a modern parent in Breeders with Martin Freeman.

Not only are we creating more than ever before, BUT we are making it an even easier and richer experience for our customers.

For example - in less than 6 months, we will have launched into 5 new discrete genres and created two more live channels - as well as comprehensive on-demand areas to aid customer navigation.

We've already launched Sky Crime and Sky Comedy - and we have Sky Nature, Sky Documentaries, and Sky History coming soon.

I'm pleased to say our plan has really paid off - take Sky Crime, our first launch - where we now regularly deliver audiences almost 3 times higher than the record audience ever recorded for true crime documentaries on pay TV.

And I'm really pleased that in the future, much of our new content will be produced at the new 30 acre Sky Studios campus we are building in Elstree.

With 12 Sound Stages we expect it to generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK's creative economy over the first five years of operation.

It's moments like these, when you reflect on the performance of the business, that you realise just how far Sky has come.

When Sky launched, we were solely a satellite broadcaster delivering a reasonably narrow range of linear channels.

Today we are Europe's biggest direct to consumer media company, producing content in every genre and distributing it in every media.

We built our own streaming platform - NOW TV - that now underpins NBC's Peacock...

Over the last handful of years, we've grown to well over a million Sky Mobile customers. And our broadband network is constantly being expanded and our service invested in as we continue to grow our subscribers.

We have a thriving business across seven European countries, with over 24 million customers, employing 32,000 people.

And of course, we are now part of Comcast, one of the world's best media and technology companies.

Of course, we are just one part of the rich media landscape. And - just as we keep changing, so the rest of the landscape keeps changing too.

At the very heart of this change is - of course - the customer, or viewer. That much is always obvious. What is staggering though is the speed at which this is now happening.

What our customers and viewers want, how they want it, when they want it and where they want it is going through rapid metamorphosis.

We believe, that given the speed, breadth and depth of this transformation, no one single market player - regardless of size or position or resources - can adapt fast enough.

Additionally, we believe its wrong for any player to adopt a winner takes all' mentality.

Simply, no matter how good any of us are, its impossible to monopolise the breadth of creativity that our customers and viewers crave from what we as an industry produce.

So, what is becoming abundantly clear, is that this accelerated and profound change in customer demand is creating new imperatives that require us - as an industry - to think differently.

To break from our past, to overcome our prejudice and muscle memory, and think afresh about how we succeed in this, the next phase for us all.

So I want to talk about three of those new imperatives which I think will make a difference both to us - the industry - and to those we serve - our customers, viewers and our community:

First, I'd like to talk about the need for Partnerships. We all need to work with others - as well as compete with others.

Second, I'd like to talk about the need to modernise our underlying regulation.

Third, I'd like to talk about the need for us all to better reflect the communities we serve.

Let me start with the first of these points. Partnerships.

I am not the only person in this room who can talk about the way their business is producing some of the best content it has ever created.

At the BBC, it ranges from genre bending dramas like Killing Eve to the global phenomenon that is Strictly.

Netflix isn't just streaming box sets, it is winning Oscars.

And there's HBO. You can bet that just about everyone in our industry had the popcorn out to watch the final season of Game of Thrones.

It is clear the talk of a golden age' of television is not just hype.

This choice and quality of content is amazing news for the viewer, - but of course this abundance creates a new set of problems.

When Sky was formed there was precious little choice about what to watch.

Now, arguably, there is almost too much - and even worse - the viewer has seen an incredible fragmentation of the places to see it.

Customers

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