SKT Sky Network Television Limited.

[LaserEyeKiwi]

The fact that sky box customer subs have GROWN despite dire predictions that the satellite base will continue to rapidly shrink to zero seems to support this sentiment.

Didn't that "growth" come from Vodafone subscribers though who were already getting the same package (but weren't previously counted as skybox customers)?

[Longhaul]

agree I have Netflix as well but I’ve watched everything I like it. Then when I go to have a look for something new spend about 20mins can’t find anything good.


Neon has a lot better content and is a hell of a lot easier to use. Only thing that I find a bit annoying is on the tablet no fast forward option bar scrolling which is annoying. Also skipping the intro. I’ve recently re watch the whole series of The office every dam episode I had to guess swipe to where the start was or alternatively watch the intro every episode and I can tell you that can get a bit annoying when the episodes only last 20mins or so. So you end up watch 3/4 a night. Half the reason I like the streaming is no ads and ability to skip I intros.

if they add the skip 20 seconds forward and skip I intros. Neons platform and content ****s on the others

I noticed last night that the Neon app has been updated and now you can skip forwards and backwards by 10s. Still can't skip intros, but the Sopranos intro is about 80seconds so easily done!

[LaserEyeKiwi]

"Buying technology"



Sky doesn't have any technology



Discovery bought TV3, an unprofitable company that's been bankrupt multiple times, because it understood the value of the assets it had.

Sky has a dominate market position in NZ and 927,000 paying customers.

Sky is worth $500m.

If Sky could flick off Prime + all the schlock channels Sky owns in the "Starter bundle" to them for $100 million it would be beyond fantastic, even if it was with some sort of leaseback type of arrangement to get the deal done (e.g. Sky pays Discovery a fixed or per subscriber fee each year for 10 years for those channels to be included in starter bundle).

[mistaTea]

Didn't that "growth" come from Vodafone subscribers though who were already getting the same package (but weren't previously counted as skybox customers)?

No not at all. Vodafone reseller customers (satellite customers but using a Vodafone Sky Box) have been retired and switched over to Vodafone's 'Vodafone TV' streaming platform.

The streaming customers for VTV are "retransmission" customers and count in the Sky streaming numbers. So the satellite 'reseller' customers have been transferred over to "retransmission" streaming subs.

Those Sky Box customer numbers shown in the presso are only direct satellite subs. And they have grown.

[mistaTea]

In the end Sky should want to be the one cannibalising its own customers to lower cost products - rather than have people go to competitors instead.

I think Martin Stewart set the scene here. Previous management were definitely afraid of cannibilising the satellite base.

But Martin changed that mindset - I remember an interview from a while back when he stated that management don't even talk about concerns in this area.

It is all about giving customers the content they want on the devices they want.

As you point out, the competitively priced streaming options now available from Sky do not indicate that management are worried about cannibalisation.

As they do have hundreds of thousands of loyal MySky subs who still enjoy the linear model, it makes sense to reward them first with a competitive broadband offer.

My expectation is that broadband will begin to be bundled with their streaming services in the near future too. This should make NEON and Sky Sport NOW even more compelling.

If they can negotiate content rights so that Sky GO can be offered as a standalone, then there are obvious opportunities for SkyGO/broadband bundles too.

A lot to look forward to.

[Zaphod]

As they do have hundreds of thousands of loyal MySky subs who still enjoy the linear model, it makes sense to reward them first with a competitive broadband offer.

Worth noting that the On Demand service is bundled up into MySky too though, but mostly linear? Yes.

[mistaTea]

Worth noting that the On Demand service is bundled up into MySky too though, but mostly linear? Yes.

Yeah that’s a fair point in terms of consumer behaviour.

Plus they all have Sky GO where they can steam OnDemand (and Chromecast now).

But the MySky offering is linear-centric.

You could argue that with the ability to record people have been watching ‘OnDemand’ from the mid 2000’s.

[LaserEyeKiwi]

Yeah that’s a fair point in terms of consumer behaviour.

Plus they all have Sky GO where they can steam OnDemand (and Chromecast now).

But the MySky offering is linear-centric.

You could argue that with the ability to record people have been watching ‘OnDemand’ from the mid 2000’s.

Thanks for your posts today - interesting what you said about previous management comments.

Part of my reasoning for dumping the mysky box this week and going all-in with NEON & SSN, was that downloading content on demand on the mysky box was the most painful experience imaginable. half the time the download service wouldn't show up as available, and when it did the downloading progress was annoying as hell and sometimes some episodes were missing (sometimes listed under a slightly different seperate programme name) and sometimes even the wrong content file was downloaded. not to mention that if I downloaded a whole series, I got to enjoy a onscreen popup interrupting my viewing to tell me when each individual episode was available.

[Joshuatree]

BloombergTV is free (via streaming app or website) and a lot better than CNBC in my opinion.

Thanks i prefer CNBC and staying put, one of the"core, loyal members"

[mistaTea]

Thanks for your posts today - interesting what you said about previous management comments.

Part of my reasoning for dumping the mysky box this week and going all-in with NEON & SSN, was that downloading content on demand on the mysky box was the most painful experience imaginable. half the time the download service wouldn't show up as available, and when it did the downloading progress was annoying as hell and sometimes some episodes were missing (sometimes listed under a slightly different seperate programme name) and sometimes even the wrong content file was downloaded. not to mention that if I downloaded a whole series, I got to enjoy a onscreen popup interrupting my viewing to tell me when each individual episode was available.

Yeah totally get that. The other day I was at my sister in laws place and tried to use MySky. It had been a few years since I had used it and initially I was stumped! Took a while to navigate the UI.

I primarily use Vodafone TV to get the best of both worlds. VTV is certainly not perfect and I would like to see some more UX improvements...but it is much better than MySky imo.

I subscribe to Starter + Entertainment for $51.49/month (no MySky fee as I own the VTV box).
I also have NEON (which I can use on the VTV box along with a range of other apps) for $9.99/month under the Spark deal.

Then I have SSN for $24/month on a super special. Unfortunately VTV does not have the SSN app yet. I happen to have an appletv which I use - but would otherwise Chromecast.

So right now my total sub fee to Sky is ~$85/month. When my SSN next renews at the ‘normal’ rate my total sub will go up to ~$95/month. That works out to about $3.12 per day...less than a cup of coffee and money I am more than happy to spend on a huge range of quality content that I can watch when I want and how I want to.

Important to point out though that a Sky Box customer with “The Works” including MySky would pay ~$120/month. That is only 82c per day more than I am paying and they have all of their content on one platform plus the added benefit of SkyGO which is actually a really good app now.

I can see why satellite is still a compelling offer to many, with the added benefit of live sport being truly ‘live’ (our coverage is delayed by up to a minute on SSN which can be annoying if your mates have satellite and give away spoilers).