Fiji Television Limited has signed non-disclosure agreements with Digicel and four other companies to explore options for its SKY Pacific arm.

Fiji Television Limited board director, Nouzab Fareed, confirmed this during a press conference yesterday.

Mr Fareed said they see SKY Pacific has big potential but in order to go to the next level, they need a strong partner.

“We need a strong medium and a strong platform to take it to the next level so that is the purpose why we are doing that,” he said.

The other companies besides Digicel are a mix of local and foreign companies.

So the question is whether Fiji Television is selling off its SKY Pacific arm or not?

Mr Fareed says: “No. It is basically an exploration.

“They explore and see what value we can add to SKY Pacific. Because as you know we have close to 30,000 SKY Pacific subscribers out of which 23,000 is out-sourced.

“There is a lot of potential for Fiji to go to the next level. Definitely we need a strategic plan so that is why we signed the non-disclosure agreement.”

Decree Amendment

The Attorney-General and Minister for Communication Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum this week led an amendment to the Media Decree.

The amendment allows foreigners to buy into pay television or become a strategic partner as long as that service does not provide any local content.

The non-disclosure agreement will allow Digicel and the other companies to obtain information about SKY Pacific.

The information cannot be made public by the companies but based on the information; they can make an offer for the type of partnership they are proposing.

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