SKY TV Subscribers Help Starship Kids with $113,000

16 April 2012

SKY TV Subscribers Help Starship Kids like Nicole to the Tune Of $113,000

Seriously ill children from around New Zealand will benefit from SKY TV’s major fundraising drive for the national children’s hospital, which raised $113,000 for Starship’s new Level 6 facility.

More than 2,600 young patients are admitted to Level 6 every year, which treats children with serious, rare and very complex conditions such as brain tumours, organ transplants, respiratory problems and genetic disorders.

Starship Foundation CEO Brad Clark says the hospital’s medical care of these children is at the highest level, but Level 6 is now 20 years old and no longer meets their complex needs.

“We need the physical space to help to meet the psychological and emotional needs of our young patients and their families. We are thrilled with SKY TV’s contribution which will be used to refurbish two patient rooms, providing a better environment for our kids to recover in.”

Like 16 month old Nicole Su’a who has lived in Starship her whole life since she was born prematurely at just 24 weeks. Nicole, from South Auckland, suffers chronic lung disease and has a tracheotomy in her throat to help her breathe.

Nicole’s grandmother Sa Tevaga has also been living at Starship since Nicole’s birth and says sometimes it gets very noisy and it’s difficult to sleep. “The new rooms will have a better design and more natural light to help give patients like Nicole the best space to get better in.”

Nicole will leave Starship to go home for the very first time in the next few weeks.

SKY TV spokesperson Kirsty Way visited Nicole in Starship to show subscribers how their donations will benefit children in the hospital. SKY subscribers had the option of upgrading to a premium service for just $1 in March with 113,000 people taking part. All proceeds went to Starship.

“The response has been overwhelming and every dollar raised has made it possible for two new patient rooms to be built which will assist in the treatment and recovery of children like Nicole, as well as supporting families who keep a bedside vigil.”

Each room will have modern décor, more natural light, better storage facilities for equipment and patient belongings, improved ventilation and a fold down bed for parents.

SKY has provided free services to Starship since 2001 to help entertain children with channels such as Nickelodeon, Disney, Disney Jr, and Cartoon Network. SKY also sponsors the Teen Lounge which screens SKY movies and SPORT.

Starship's Level 6 rebuild is estimated to cost $5 million with sufficient funds raised to date to start the project. The design is underway and the rebuild is scheduled to start in December this year. The Foundation is still fundraising for the last of the rebuild cost and the public can donate at www.starship.org.nz/donation.

About SKY
SKY Television is New Zealand’s pre-eminent pay television operator, offering a wide range of sports, movies, music, on-demand and general entertainment content across more than 110 channels. As of 31 December 2011, SKY had 846,240 subscribers. SKY launched as a three-channel UHF service in 1990, with two further channels added four years later. SKY’s UHF signal reached more than 83% of the country’s 1.5 million households. In December 1998 SKY launched a digital satellite service, extending its reach to the whole country. More than 48% of New Zealand homes subscribe to SKY. The analogue UHF service closed down on 10 March 2010. SKY also offers pay-per-view movies ad live events and is the cornerstone shareholder in Fatso, New Zealand’s premier online DVD rental service. In July 2008 SKY launched MY SKY HDi, a new High Definition decoder and PVR with Dolby Digital surround sound. SKY currently offers nine 1080 High Definition television channels (SKY Sport 1, 2 and 3, ESPN, SKY Movies and SKY Movies Greats, TV3 HD, TVONE HD and TV2 HD) to subscribers. In February 2011, SKY launched iSKY, an online TV service that delivers SKY subscribers five live streaming channels, catch-up TV from 20 channels and an iSKY store offering online rental of premier and library movies and TV series. On 8 February 2006, SKY completed the purchase of the New Zealand television business of Prime Television Ltd giving SKY the opportunity to showcase its channels and programmes whilst ensuring that New Zealand consumers can view delayed free-to-air sports programmes such as rugby, rugby league and cricket in primetime. SKY is proud to support The Starship foundation, New Zealand Olympic Committee, The Special Children’s Christmas Parties and SportConnect. For further information please visit the web sites ww.sky.co.nz www.skysport.co.nz www.isky.co.nz www.primetv.co.nz

About Starship Foundation
The Starship Foundation raises funds so Starship Children’s Health can better care for New Zealand’s children. Donations are an extra to Government funding and provide a variety of initiatives such as new technology, vital research, boosted family support and preventative programmes. As a charitable organisation, Starship Foundation exists through the generosity of the New Zealand public who lovingly donate money and/or time to assist in making Starship a world class medical facility. Starship Children's Health cares for nearly 120,000 children from around the country each year. New Zealanders can support these children by donating to the Starship Foundation on 09 307 4957 or on-line www.starship.org.nz/foundation

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