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Speaker 1: It's now SkyTV. The customer base has fallen now to

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Speaker 1: its lowest level in five years. They've posted a net

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Speaker 1: after tax profit of forty nine million dollars for the

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Speaker 1: year to June. This is a nearly four percent decrease

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Speaker 1: from the year before. Sophie Maloneous sky TV's chief executive HeSE.

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Speaker 2: Sophie, sure to hear that how you doing.

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Speaker 1: I'm very well, thank you listen coming back four percent?

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Speaker 1: Given the economic situation facing the country is not bad,

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Speaker 1: is it.

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Speaker 2: It's not too bad, particularly if you think about that,

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Speaker 2: it's got to increase depreation depreciation costs in it. So

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Speaker 2: I think the bigger one for us is free cash

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Speaker 2: flow generation is up forty three percent year on year,

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Speaker 2: and that has allowed us to pay a dividend of

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Speaker 2: nineteen cents per share. So that's the twenty six point

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Speaker 2: seven percent uplift for our shareholder.

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Speaker 1: Love a dividend. However, you have lost about seventy six

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Speaker 1: thousand subscribers in the last year. Now that feels like

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Speaker 1: a lot, is it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Look, I that was disappointing for us and the team.

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Speaker 2: And I could say on the call earlier that if

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Speaker 2: I could have moved the balance to thirty one July,

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Speaker 2: you would have seen our customer numbers would back up

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Speaker 2: over a million. So you know, that's the nature of

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Speaker 2: being a streaming business provider as well as having our

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Speaker 2: Skybox base.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, it was a bit disappointing in the year because.

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Speaker 2: I want New Zealanders to keep enjoying their Sky Sport

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Speaker 2: and Sky Entertainment content. But so where we're working hard

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Speaker 2: to getting back.

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Speaker 1: But so is it quite volatile because I mean what

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Speaker 1: you're talking about is the difference between the end of

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Speaker 1: June and the end of July just being a month.

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Speaker 1: Is that you've seen you've gained more than seventy thousand view.

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Speaker 3: Its yeah, it is. I mean streaming is very volatile.

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Speaker 2: So you know, that's the two performers that we weren't

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Speaker 2: happy about in the year with Skybox and Neon in particular.

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Speaker 2: So that's that's the nature of the streaming business that

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Speaker 2: you'll see your numbers move around quite a lot. And

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Speaker 2: obviously it was a very impressive July of Sport.

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Speaker 1: What's the problem with Neon.

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Speaker 2: We have suffered from having you know, the US writers

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Speaker 2: and that strikes did mean that we actually didn't get

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Speaker 2: the content that we had hope through our our key partners,

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Speaker 2: how the Dragon came in from HBO.

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Speaker 3: Just to the end of June.

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Speaker 2: But looking ahead, you know, we do have Yellowstone coming back,

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Speaker 2: We've got the Penguin, We've got White Lotus, so there

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Speaker 2: are some big titles coming back this year and May's

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Speaker 2: tail as well, so again we should see we hope

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Speaker 2: to see Neon recover from you know, from where it's

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Speaker 2: been this year.

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Speaker 1: Are you are you seeing this thing where the minute

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Speaker 1: that you don't have enough content to satisfy people's insatiable

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Speaker 1: desire to watch things, they switch off and go they cancel,

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Speaker 1: shift to Netflix for a month, cancel Apple and just

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Speaker 1: do like a rotation like that.

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Speaker 2: That is exactly what's happening in the entertainment entertainment SPoD market, Heather.

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Speaker 2: And that's you know, it's a challenge, right because that's

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Speaker 2: quite difficult to manage your revenue, which is why we

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Speaker 2: do love our always on sport and always on entertainment

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Speaker 2: on the skybox side.

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Speaker 1: How do you get around that because it seems to

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Speaker 1: me the only way you can do it is by

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Speaker 1: locking people are basically for a year with such an

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Speaker 1: awesome deal over a year that they think it's worth

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Speaker 1: it and then never cancel.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's one way to do it, but it's also

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Speaker 2: just understanding the content that people enjoy coming back to

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Speaker 2: and you know, making sure that you've got a really

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Speaker 2: free content set to be delivered. So the team are

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Speaker 2: going to be you know, we've learned a lot with Neon.

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Speaker 2: We were kind of waiting for these big titles and

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Speaker 2: we realize that doesn't that doesn't really work, and what

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Speaker 2: you want is just to have a steady diet of

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Speaker 2: fresh content.

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Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on with the Rugby By the way,

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Speaker 1: when do you start the negotiations.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're in discussions at the moment, so and they're

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Speaker 2: being constructive and I would expect that, you know, by

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Speaker 2: the end of this calendar year. We both want to

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Speaker 2: know where we are with the deal because the new

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Speaker 2: one starts in one January twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: Are you up against anybody who's bidding against you? Is

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Speaker 1: it TV and Z.

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Speaker 2: Look, that's obviously not a question for me to answer that.

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Speaker 2: I'm you know, where we're very clear hither about you know,

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Speaker 2: the parts of the Rugby deal that are very valuable

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Speaker 2: for Sky customers and the stuff that they're maybe not

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Speaker 2: watching as much of and that all goes into the

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Speaker 2: maximum conversation.

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Speaker 1: What are we not watching?

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Speaker 2: I mean some of the some of the content when

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Speaker 2: you've got lots of other things to watch. It's quite

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Speaker 2: a competitive landscape over you know, particularly during July and

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Speaker 2: August there's and this this year in particular with the Olympics,

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Speaker 2: there are a lot of New Zealanders watching that, that's

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Speaker 2: for sure.

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Speaker 1: So the stuff that we're not watching would be like

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Speaker 1: what the NPC.

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Speaker 3: Through the year.

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Speaker 2: The NPC is one of the is one of the

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Speaker 2: conversations with New Zealand rugby just to see how they're

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Speaker 2: scheduling the content and making sure that they're that we're

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Speaker 2: both marketing at as well as we can to ensure

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Speaker 2: that New Zealanders know that those games are on and

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of them right there's normally over seventy

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Speaker 2: games a season.

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Speaker 3: It's a lot of a lot of rugby content.

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Speaker 1: You're not going to pay as which as you did

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Speaker 1: last time, though, are you.

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Speaker 3: Look on it?

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Speaker 2: We last time in twenty nineteen we were in a

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Speaker 2: very different position where basically we needed to take all

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Speaker 2: of the rugby because Spark Sport was there and we

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Speaker 2: didn't have any choice. Plus we didn't have the data

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Speaker 2: that we now do to really help inform what understanding

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Speaker 2: what our customers value. So we're in a much better

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Speaker 2: place now, and of course we'd welcome back things like

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Speaker 2: the Premier League and Formula One which make a big difference.

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Speaker 2: And the Warriors we're performing really well.

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Speaker 3: Ah, how good?

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Speaker 2: Obviously they have been amazing and it'll be awesome to

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Speaker 2: celebrate Shawn Johnson who's been a legend this Friday, and

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Speaker 2: that's smart.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, at Sean Johnson Stadium.

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Speaker 3: Exactly right, Heather, Are you going to go along?

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Speaker 1: No? I haven't actually been invited by anybody then, and

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Speaker 1: then I just I just didn't buy my own tickets

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Speaker 1: because I'm.

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Speaker 3: Tight, So well, there you go. Maybe someone might invite you,

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Speaker 3: you never know.

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Speaker 1: And now I've got plans to sit at home on

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Speaker 1: the couch and watch it. But how good is that?

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Speaker 1: I know that Sky obviously.

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Speaker 2: Obviously on Sky or Sky Sport now as you wish.

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Speaker 1: So the do you think TVNZ is serious about this

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Speaker 1: play for sport? I mean, are you are you going

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Speaker 1: to have to go up against them and start shelling

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Speaker 1: out money to keep your sport content.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think it's you obviously have had some good conversations.

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Speaker 2: I thought you had a great conversation with Duncan Greeve

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Speaker 2: conversation for TVNZ.

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Speaker 3: I understand why.

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Speaker 2: They want to look at divestifying their revenue, and I

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Speaker 2: understand obviously Sky understands the value of sport. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I think Spark Sport is a pretty salient example of

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Speaker 2: how hard it is in a market the size of

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Speaker 2: New Zealand's market. So my thought about TVNZ is that

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Speaker 2: they're a phenomenal free towear player. They have the biggest

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Speaker 2: free to wear reach in the country. That's why we

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Speaker 2: partner with them on netball, and we partner with them

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Speaker 2: with some grassroots rugby with New Zealand Rugby, so that

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Speaker 2: is their superpower. But equally understand if they want to

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Speaker 2: have a look at the PTV landscape, I understand why,

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Speaker 2: but that's obviously a conversation for them direct Heather, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: rather than me.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Now, Sophie, have you watched Feud with Tom Hollander

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Speaker 1: as Truman Capoti?

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Speaker 3: Nothing?

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Speaker 1: But I have not, mate?

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Speaker 3: Should I?

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Speaker 1: That is some of the best content you've got on

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Speaker 1: meon is so good. Let me just take okay, just

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Speaker 1: listen to this. Tom Hollander as Truman Capoti. He's the

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Speaker 1: guy from White Lotus by the way, the one who's

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Speaker 1: the gay uncle, who's not actually the gay uncle. Naomi Watts,

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Speaker 1: Demi Moore and Diane Lane. What a cast?

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Speaker 3: What a cast? Well, I've got three more for you

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Speaker 3: on me on. Are you ready?

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Speaker 1: Yep, I'm ready.

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Speaker 2: So from the BBC The Jesse Awesome. That's crime drama,

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Speaker 2: very good, girls on the bus, it's super fun setting

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Speaker 2: in the context of the US election. Three different journalists.

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Speaker 2: I think you all love it like that. And the

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Speaker 2: other one is Modern Love, which is these lovely stories

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Speaker 2: that little have been yet lital thirty minute episodes, which

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Speaker 2: I highly highly recommend.

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Speaker 1: What's that about?

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Speaker 2: It's just little stories have been written into the New

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Speaker 2: York Times and then turned them into these like many drivers,

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Speaker 2: they're stars and one super good.

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Speaker 1: Oh that doesn't really good hate Sophie, Thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Always appreciate it. Now, now you've got my viewing sorted.

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to have to talk to anybody for ages.

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Speaker 1: Sophie Maloney, sky TV's chief executive

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, Listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks they'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow

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Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio