could sky become cable company aswell as satellite?

gertechhaha

hi,bored here and thinking,would there be any profit for sky if they were to offer cable tv aswell as satellite to irish customers?

if they did, they could offer sky atlantic and of course the itv channels aswell as interactive features ,surely that would take alot if not all of the tv custom from upc.

i would get sky but cant put a dish up,so if they offered cable tv id jump at the chance to get it from sky.

BrianD

The beauty of satellite is that you don't need to create or wire a cable network on the ground and satellite is infintely expandable within the footprint - every new development in a city or town has to be cabled first. This is a hugely expensive proposition for anybody getting into cable TV or in the business already.

Sky have the numbers, a virtual monopoly and satellite is an accepted form of tv delivery so I can't see them getting into cable unless they decide to buy a cable operator.

An IP offering would be more probable.

gertechhaha

BrianD wrote: »

The beauty of satellite is that you don't need to create or wire a cable network on the ground and satellite is infintely expandable within the footprint - every new development in a city or town has to be cabled first. This is a hugely expensive proposition for anybody getting into cable TV or in the business already.

Sky have the numbers, a virtual monopoly and satellite is an accepted form of tv delivery so I can't see them getting into cable unless they decide to buy a cable operator.

An IP offering would be more probable.

what is an IP offering? haha

12 element

gertechhaha wrote: »

what is an IP offering? haha

IPTV, television over internet.

gertechhaha

12 element wrote: »

IPTV, television over internet.

do sky offer IPTV?

dunworth1

gertechhaha wrote: »

do sky offer IPTV?

sort of you can watch sky on a xbox 360

Tarquin1970

dunworth1 wrote: »

sort of you can watch sky on a xbox 360

Or a laptop. In fact you don't need to have a dish to subscribe to skyplayer. http://skyplayer.sky.com/vod/page/online-tv.html

bk

Technically and legally * there is nothing stopping Sky from becoming a cable operator.

Practically they are very unlikely to do so due to the massive cost of rolling out cable versus their existing satellite service.

However interestingly in the UK, it is almost happening. Sky are looking to roll out Fibre To The Home, which would allow them to deliver high speed broadband and TV services to homes via Fibre Optic Cable (rather then Hybrid Fibre Coax cable used by UPC). While technically this wouldn't make them a cable operator, it would effectively be the same thing and deliver the same sort of service.

However unfortunately no signs of Sky doing this in Ireland.

Interestingly the reverse is also possible, nothing stopping UPC becoming a satellite TV operator and offering satellite TV to people not in UPC cable areas.

* In the past cable was a regulated market, where you had to get a license and you weren't allowed lay cable in an area with an existing cable TV company. But the market has been deregulated now and it is open to new players anywhere.

Red Alert

What might make more sense would be for Sky to do a multiswitch-type setup in new developments.

gertechhaha

bk wrote: »

Technically and legally * there is nothing stopping Sky from becoming a cable operator.

Practically they are very unlikely to do so due to the massive cost of rolling out cable versus their existing satellite service.

However interestingly in the UK, it is almost happening. Sky are looking to roll out Fibre To The Home, which would allow them to deliver high speed broadband and TV services to homes via Fibre Optic Cable (rather then Hybrid Fibre Coax cable used by UPC). While technically this wouldn't make them a cable operator, it would effectively be the same thing and deliver the same sort of service.

However unfortunately no signs of Sky doing this in Ireland.


Interestingly the reverse is also possible, nothing stopping UPC becoming a satellite TV operator and offering satellite TV to people not in UPC cable areas.

* In the past cable was a regulated market, where you had to get a license and you weren't allowed lay cable in an area with an existing cable TV company. But the market has been deregulated now and it is open to new players anywhere.

if sky start to offer broadband and tv services via fibre optic cable in the UK and it is successful,chances are they would start to do it here then

Freddie59

gertechhaha wrote: »

if sky start to offer broadband and tv services via fibre optic cable in the UK and it is successful,chances are they would start to do it here then

How would they do this? Digging everywhere up would be prohibitive.

Looking at THIS it's no great shakes.

who is this

Pretty pathetic when UPC and Virgin both have 100Mb on DOCSIS

bk

gertechhaha wrote: »

if sky start to offer broadband and tv services via fibre optic cable in the UK and it is successful,chances are they would start to do it here then

Not necessarily. Sky offer BB in the UK over LLU DSL, but while the same is possible here, they don't.

Also the regulator is much more aggressive in the UK then here, making it easier for Sky to compete.

However having said that, if UPC continue to improve the way they have with BB and can also improve their TV service, then I think Sky will come under pressure to do the same here.

Freddie59 wrote: »

How would they do this? Digging everywhere up would be prohibitive.

Looking at THIS it's no great shakes.

In the UK they are currently buying capacity on BT's network, but they are also looking into laying their own cable also in areas where it makes sense.

who is this wrote: »

Pretty pathetic when UPC and Virgin both have 100Mb on DOCSIS

Yes, but these are the speeds for FTTC, FTTH should be able to offer much higher speeds.

Interestingly Eircom is proposing 50Mb/s for their FTTC scheme.

icdg

gertechhaha wrote: »

hi,bored here and thinking,would there be any profit for sky if they were to offer cable tv aswell as satellite to irish customers?

if they did, they could offer sky atlantic and of course the itv channels aswell as interactive features ,surely that would take alot if not all of the tv custom from upc.

i would get sky but cant put a dish up,so if they offered cable tv id jump at the chance to get it from sky.

The liklihood is that if you can't put a dish up you probably wouldn't able to get Sky even if it offered a cable TV service.

Most people who can't put a dish up are under restrictive covenenants in their leases preventing them from doing so, largely apartment owners. Most of these multi-unit developments have management companies who sign lenghty deals with IPTV companies (or sometimes even UPC or even more rarely Sky) to provide the sole TV service in the apartment complex. Usually this is done while the management company is still under the control of the developer and by the time it is signed over to the owners the deal is done.

Sky does have an offering for multi-unit developments which involves a communal dish, but you'd need to get the management company to agree. Very often their hands are already tied by the developer's actions prior to the sale of the units.

On the broader issue, Sky have their platform (Astra), which allows them to serve the majority of people who don't live in multi-unit developments. There would really be no point in them running cable just for multi-unit developments. Their TV offering - and they are essentially a wireless cable operator - is generally superior to anything UPC or the IPTV operators have been able to offer, although UPC does have its advantages (price, inclusion of Setanta/ESPN, more logical EPG layout, and bundled broadband/phone). If Sky did want to enter the broadband/phone market they could do it via ADSL/LLU instead, as they do in the UK.

who is this

bk wrote: »

Yes, but these are the speeds for FTTC, FTTH should be able to offer much higher speeds.

I know but what they can do with it isn't nearly as important as what they actually do with it.