The old sport chestnut is the only thing in contention here...without sport Sky will struggle to survive....in fact it would be rather a quick death....
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So why dont they sell a starter pack of E, Comedy Central, Cartoons and the other non Freeeview stuff. As for the Set Top Box, connecting a Freeview STB should not be an issue connecting it a TV. The TV is just a receiver of whatever the STB sends it. Cold be Freeview, Could be Sky, could be chromecast.
Sky's upstream content supply contracts are rather prohibitive. They also contain clauses that force Sky to pursue legal action against infringements or the supply contracts can be invalidated. Unfortunately the upstream content industry also has a lot of hard lessons to learn.
Perhaps what this does is delay the inevitable, which will mean this one will slowly bleed out.
The cash generating potential and the relatively strong balance sheet is what keeps it afloat for the moment. However, monopolistic behaviours in a competitive market will not win you any new fans. You can't carry out your affairs like its 2005.
Like many of the older (over 35) generation we, and my partner especially, don't wish to have to mess around with streaming smartphones and casting to google every time we want to watch a programme. Instead we are more than happy to very easily record programmes to SKY's HD and watch at our leisure. No technical degree required - just a few button presses.
So just for balance, not everyone hates SKY. (and I'm not a holder except via ETFs).
Just a great pity that it wasn't allowed to amalgamate with VOD and become a proper modern commercial Kiwi media company.