Sky plc.
SKY.LSE | Television programming and broadcasting activities
Sky plc, formerly British Sky Broadcasting, is a media and entertainment company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It operates across Europe, providing television and broadband internet services to millions of customers. Sky's primary business involves the creation, acquisition, and distribut...Show More
Better Health for All
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Sky implements comprehensive addiction controls for its gambling services (Sky Bet), including deposit limits, self-exclusion options for 24 hours or six months, and age verification.
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Sky Bet customers can set a maximum deposit on their account before they play, and fix a limit on how much they can deposit in any 24 hour period.
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Customers can also elect to exclude themselves for either 24 hours or six months.
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Undertake age verification procedures to make sure that Sky Bet customers are over 18.
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Sky Bet’s customer service teams are trained to direct customers to responsible gambling tools or GamCare for support, if directly or indirectly requested.
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Sky also provides links to the Internet Content Rating Association for blocking gambling websites.
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From May 2006, all www.skybet.com web pages now link to the Internet Content Rating Association website, which will allow customers to block all Sky betting websites from their PC if they want to.
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sky offered $1 million worth of TV advertising airtime to support charities and community organizations for relief efforts.
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For mental health, Sky partners with Movember to raise awareness for men's health and suicide prevention through broadcast campaigns and digital content
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, produced a documentary "Mind Menders"
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, partnered with Kick It Out to enhance mental health by addressing discrimination in football
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, and renovated a building for the Samaritans.
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Sky Media's partnership with Prostate Cancer UK drove a 207% increase in website visits for health information.
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Fair Money & Economic Opportunity
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Sky plc is a media and entertainment company providing television and broadband internet services, and does not operate as a financial institution. Consequently, the company does not offer lending, insurance, or deposit services to consumers. Therefore, KPIs related to financial products, services, or customer financial outcomes, such as underserved client share, pricing fairness, exploitative fee exposure, inclusion initiatives (related to loan/insurance books), data accessibility (for financial data), fair lending compliance, wealth building outcomes, financial literacy initiatives, debt burden ratio, geographic inclusion (for financial access points), and product simplicity (for financial products), are not applicable to Sky plc's business model. While Sky plc does invest in communities and entrepreneurs, the KPI for profit reinvestment requires a percentage of annual pre-tax profit reinvested in community finance, which is not provided in the articles, leading to its omission.
Fair Pay & Worker Respect
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79% of surveyed employees reportedly earn at or above the Real Living Wage.
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However, in November 2022, Sky call centres established food stores for struggling staff, and the company provided a £1,000 winter payment to 70% of staff.
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Sky's 2018 report indicated a median gender pay gap of 8.1%, with women earning 91.9% of men's median pay, attributed to more men in senior and technical roles.
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Sky Subscribers Services Limited, a subsidiary, was fined $69,633 for a labor standards violation.
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Additionally, in July 2022, the UK's CMA investigated Sky for alleged collusion to fix wages for freelance sports production staff.
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Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing
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Sky plc requires all its suppliers to adhere to Comcast’s Code of Conduct, which emphasizes compliance with legal and ethical standards
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. The company is also a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), aligning with the RBA’s Code of Conduct to focus on human rights and ethical labor practices within the electronics supply chain
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Honest & Fair Business
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Sky has a 'Speak Up' policy, part of its comprehensive Compliance Programme, which encourages employees to report concerns without fear of retaliation.
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The company also maintains a comprehensive anti-corruption policy, demonstrated by its active participation in the UN Global Compact.
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Through this, Sky publishes annual Communications on Progress, detailing its anti-corruption measures, adherence to relevant laws, implementation of risk assessments, and establishment of internal checks and balances.
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However, Sky has faced regulatory challenges. In August 2022, Ofcom ruled that Sky breached consumer protection rules by failing to inform approximately 3.5 million pay-TV customers about contract expirations.
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Furthermore, in 2022, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints against Sky for misleading advertising, specifically for implying a non-existent award from Ofcom.
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Kind to Animals
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Sky plc is a media and entertainment company, providing television and broadband internet services. As such, KPIs related to cruelty-free certification, animal testing, humane operations, ethical ingredient substitution, supplier audits, cage-free sourcing, and animal agriculture ethics are not applicable to its core business model. The company's Sky Zero Footprint Fund allocated £2 million to support sustainability initiatives
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, including awarding £250,000 in media value to an insect-based dog food brand
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. Sky Kids also released a documentary to educate about biodiversity conservation and promote wildlife protection
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. However, these initiatives do not provide specific, quantifiable data points that align with the measurable thresholds for wildlife conservation impact, innovation investment in animal-free technologies, animal-free R&D collaboration, or public policy engagement as defined by the rubric.
No War, No Weapons
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Sky plc has no involvement in arms manufacturing or military contracts.
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The company signed the Armed Forces Covenant to support military personnel and their families.
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Planet-Friendly Business
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Sky has committed to becoming net zero carbon by 2030, encompassing its entire value chain, with a clear roadmap including transforming its fleet, sustainable building designs, and making all productions net zero
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. Its science-based targets to reduce absolute Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 from a 2018 base year have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, aligning with Paris Agreement goals
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. By July 2021, Sky achieved 100% renewable electricity across its business, with UK and Ireland operations purchasing and matching 100% renewable electricity
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. Furthermore, through its 6-year Sky Rainforest Rescue partnership with WWF, Sky saved one billion trees in the Amazon rainforest, contributing to a 25% reduction in deforestation within the project area
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Respect for Cultures & Communities
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Sky plc has 60 formal charity partnerships across the Sky Group.
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The company experienced one cultural appropriation incident where a colleague made an assumption about an employee's Latino heritage.
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This incident resulted in a grievance being raised and a tribunal ruling that awarded £14,000 in damages, indicating a reactive response to the cultural incident.
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Safe & Smart Tech
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Sky plc is actively embedding ethical considerations in its AI applications, demonstrated by its recruitment for 'AI Governance Lead' and 'Data Ethics & Responsible AI Lead' roles
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. The company aims to establish strategies ensuring AI practices comply with international standards
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. Additionally, Sky News partnered with ethical AI firm ProRata.ai to ensure fair compensation and credit for content creators in generative AI
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Zero Waste & Sustainable Products
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Sky plc achieved a waste diversion rate of 99.79% in 2022, with 5,268 tonnes recycled and 3,326 tonnes sent to energy recovery out of 8,612 tonnes of total waste.
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All of Sky's packaging is 100% recyclable, responsibly sourced, and free from single-use plastics.
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The company has removed single-use plastics from product packaging and its Sky Studios Elstree site operations, eliminating approximately half a million plastic bottles annually from its sites.
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Sky follows sustainable design principles for its products, encompassing material efficiency, energy efficiency, longevity, reuse, and repair, and ensures products are repairable and refurbishable.
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Waste reduction initiatives include a food waste campaign, collecting 2,137 glass bottles for recycling in Italy, financing a project to reduce 8,000kg of plastic waste in the Seruyan River, sourcing ex-demo and end-of-line furniture for Sky Studios Elstree, and investing in Loop's zero-waste shopping service.
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Suppliers are expected to comply with Sky's single-use plastic policies, and the company supports them through initiatives like #GoZero and engagement via CDP Supply Chain.
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