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Vodafone NZ hits the pay-TV market

The New Zealand arm of Vodafone has bought out TelstraClear, including cable network Telstra Saturn, for NZ$480 million.

Nic Healey Senior Editor / Australia
Nic Healey is a Senior Editor with CNET, based in the Australia office. His passions include bourbon, video games and boring strangers with photos of his cat.
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The New Zealand arm of Vodafone has bought out TelstraClear, including cable network Telstra Saturn, for NZ$480 million.

(Credit: Vodafone NZ)

TelstraClear is New Zealand's second-largest telco, and was initially a fully owned subsidiary of Telstra Australia until the end of October, when it was fully purchased by Vodafone New Zealand.

As part of the deal, Vodafone NZ now owns the cable TV network Telstra Saturn, which operates in Christchurch and Wellington. The company has announced that it will rebrand the service under the Vodafone name.

However, Telstra Saturn has predominantly just been a rebroadcast of Sky TV, and The New Zealand Herald is reporting that Sky chief executive John Fellet said that the content deal is not being renegotiated for the new owners.

While this leaves the future of the content on cable network under Vodafone a little unclear, the telco has hired Jane Wilson, a former TVNZ programmer, prompting speculation that Vodafone NZ will be producing its own content for the New Zealand pay-TV market.