Sky Broadband Tells Staff to Handle Fear of Rupert Murdoch with Sensitivity

Some of O2 UK’s fixed line home broadband and phone customers are reportedly refusing to be shifted onto the network of new owner Sky Broadband (BSkyB) because it’s partly owned by Rupert Murdoch’s infamous News Corporation.

Sky picked up O2’s broadband customers for more than £180m in early March 2013 (here) and its most recent financial report suggested that this, alongside other issues (e.g. the lack of a superfast broadband product), had contributed to a sharper than expected fall in subscribers (here).

Murdoch has, rightly or wrongly, become somewhat of a hate figure among the masses and apparently this alone has now become enough to put at least some people off the idea of being migrated over to Sky. As a result Sky has issued a new internal memo, which has subsequently been leaked to The Mirror, that advises staff on how to deal with such individuals.

Sky’s Internal Message

“If you receive any ­objections regarding Murdoch, please can you handle with sensitivity and if necessary for clarification we can use the below as a stance to support.”

The message continues on to advise staff that News ­Corporation currently only hold a minority stake (39%) in BSkyB and thus Sky remains a separate company, which is something that related customers can now expect to be told.

In fairness it’s perfectly sensible for advisors to provide some clarification for any misconceptions about Sky and its ownership, although it would be interesting to know what proportion have already left their contracts due to related fears.

In the grander scheme of things Sky tend to rate quite well when compared with the markets other big boys but clearly that’s not enough to stop the Murdoch effect from having a negative impact.