Residents of Aotea/Great Barrier Island have been left without Sky Television service for months, with repeated technician no-shows compounding the frustration. The issue comes as telco infrastructure provider Chorus prepares to withdraw landline phone services across the island over the next five years, starting next month.
Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney issued an apology on Friday, acknowledging the widespread frustration and explaining that the company’s transition to a new satellite is the primary cause of the disruption.
“Recently, some of you haven’t had the Sky experience you deserve. I’m very sorry for this,” Moloney said in a video posted to the TV network’s website.
Sky is moving to a new satellite in April, but as the old satellite nears the end of its life, signal outages have become a growing issue.
“We’ll be moving to the new satellite in April, but as the old satellite reaches the end of its life, it is moving slightly out of its optimum spot at certain times of the day. As a result of this, some of you may be experiencing signal outages at the same time every day,” Moloney explained.
While these service interruptions are frustrating for customers across New Zealand, they are hitting harder on Aotea, where repair visits are already infrequent. Many islanders have reported waiting months for technicians who never arrive.
Leigh Johns, owner of Sunset Waterfront Lodge, said he had been waiting for a technician since his Sky setup was damaged by a fire on November 11.
“I called them the next morning and was told they would get a technician to me. Four days later, the night before they were due to come, I got a text saying that was cancelled and they would be in touch to make a new appointment,” he told Stuff.co.nz
That never happened. After making another call to Sky, he was assured a technician would arrive on November 27. The day before the appointment, he received another cancellation notice.
“We were told last time there would definitely be a tech here last Saturday, [but there has been] no communication, and no show. We are now told February 1, however, we cannot be given a guarantee, and they won’t put us through to their tech team, they claim they can only contact them via email.”
Fellow island resident Val Foreman has been waiting four months for her Sky setup to be repaired.
“We’re still being charged and although they promise to reimburse, they don’t until the technician has been out,” she said.
Johns echoed that sentiment, saying, “We are still getting charged for our Sky, and billed monthly, yet getting no service. It feels like they’ve left the Barrier behind, they’ve just put us in the too-hard basket.”
Sky says it doesn’t have a technician on the island and only dispatches staff when there are multiple service requests. A spokesperson said a technician was scheduled to visit Great Barrier Island this weekend and would address Johns and Foreman’s issues at that time. Sky also noted that both customers had received credits for their outages, which would be finalised after service was restored.
The outage comes at a time when telecommunications on the island are undergoing significant change. Chorus has announced it will progressively withdraw landline services over the next five years, starting next month. Both Chorus and Sky have suggested that Aotea residents transition to satellite data services like Starlink to replace traditional landline phones and satellite television services.
