Sky On-Demand (formerly Anytime) [Merged]

keith_d99

I see that they are opening up the service in the UK to non-sky broadband customers - link here

Looks like they are getting a little scared by Netflix competition

Cantona's Collars

Saw this last week on DS,what's the bets that BBC & ITV content will be blocked over here.Still it'd be nice to have a proper on-demand service through the Skybox.

p.oconnor

From Sky via email

"Yes, Irish customers will be able to access Anytime+ over Irish ISPs."

I will reply asking any news on ITV/BBC player

zg3409

I think I have Sky Anytime + in Ireland

I have internet and a laptop. I can download films etc from Sky Go anytime section.
I can then watch them on the laptop or on the TV with the right connection.

I did notice that many, many films are not on anytime, just a select few. It's not the same as having a Sky box connected to a dish.

It does use up a lot of internet bandwidth and depending on your internet connection/package you may be charged extra by your internet provider for going over limits or cut off (which I was) due to excessive downloading (of legal content)

I have had this since early December, is it that new?

I don't have it on this computer, what channels do you want me to check for?

Cantona's Collars

zg3409 wrote: »

I think I have Sky Anytime + in Ireland

I have internet and a laptop. I can download films etc from Sky Go anytime section.
I can then watch them on the laptop or on the TV with the right connection.

I did notice that many, many films are not on anytime, just a select few. It's not the same as having a Sky box connected to a dish.

It does use up a lot of internet bandwidth and depending on your internet connection/package you may be charged extra by your internet provider for going over limits or cut off (which I was) due to excessive downloading (of legal content)

I have had this since early December, is it that new?

I don't have it on this computer, what channels do you want me to check for?

That's just the Sky Go service that you have.

Anytime + is through you're SkyHD box,connect it via ethernet cable to access it when the service is launched over here.

Hogzy

We definetly wont have the ITV player. If we dont have the ITV channels on Sky in Ireland then there is no way in hell we will be getting their streaming service.

I also doubt we will have the BBC iPlayer service. It would be nice if we got RTE Player implemented though.

mad muffin

I guess it will be ok to have additional services, but anytime+ is in SD and therefore pretty worthless for us HD addicts.

zg3409

OK thanks for the info

I have a laptop with HDMI out to the TV with a 5M long lead. It works fine for RTE player, via the website. Not the same I know but it works right now. A laptop offers better choice than a closed Sky box.

Cantona's Collars

mad muffin wrote: »

I guess it will be ok to have additional services, but anytime+ is in SD and therefore pretty worthless for us HD addicts.

HD would eat through a download allowance in no time and would fill up the hard drive on the box pretty quickly.

p.oconnor

Timeframe for us in Ireland not so clear, ITV/BBC will not be available according to sky,

"To be clear, the availability of Anytime+ in Ireland may require further technical development and may not occur in the same timescale as the UK. As for the BBC and ITV, these services won’t be available in Ireland given rights issues. These could change over time, and so we’ll keep this under review. But the good news is that all Sky’s pay content (Sky Atlantic, Sky 1, Sky Movies) plus on demand shows from many of our partner channels (FX, Discovery, UKTV etc.) will be available."

mad muffin

zerks wrote: »

HD would eat through a download allowance in no time and would fill up the hard drive on the box pretty quickly.

Meh, I have 320GB D/L allowance and a 1TB box.

Minstrel27

I think it's pretty outrageous that we don't have it here already. Sky Broadband is not available here at all so they intentionally kept Anytime+ from Irish subscribers.

Hogzy

Minstrel27 wrote: »

I think it's pretty outrageous that we don't have it here already. Sky Broadband is not available here at all so they intentionally kept Anytime+ from Irish subscribers.

They did it with UK subscribers too who didnt have Sky Broadband. How do you think our UK counterparts would feel if we could get anytime+ without Sky broadband when they had to have it.
Obviously they wouldnt be happy!

Minstrel27

They have the option of getting it don't they

Cantona's Collars

Minstrel27 wrote: »

They have the option of getting it don't they

From Easter it seems Sky will allow access to other ISP's in the UK.

From Thinkbroadband.

The Sky Anytime+ service which offers a library of on-demand content from Sky and other partner channels available over unbundled Sky broadband connections is expanding. The expansion includes new agreements with the BBC and ITV to include ITV Player and BBC iPlayer content, more importantly the restriction that the service was only available to customers with a Sky LLU broadband connection is to be removed, allowing Sky TV customers to access Anytime+ from any broadband service of sufficient speed.

The access restriction will be removed by Easter 2012, and other than increasing the amount of data you consume on your broadband service will carry no other costs. The amount of content available though will depend on what Sky TV package you subscribe to, for example movies are only present if you subscribe to Sky Movies 1 and 2.

There have been signs that this change was likely to happen, as people with two broadband connections at home, one via Sky and one with another provider have found that once the Sky Anytime+ service was activated on their compatible Sky set-top box that even on the non-Sky broadband service the content still worked. It is possible now to connect the newer Sky+HD boxes to your broadband router via the ethernet connector, and they will acquire an IP address, all that is needed is for Sky to enable Anytime+ on the device.

Many had thought that the Sky Anytime+ IPTV service was intended to make the Sky TV/phone/broadband bundles more compelling, but it seems Sky is happy open the service up. With the arrival of Netflix in the UK the landscape for IPTV is changing, the marketing efforts of both LoveFilm and Netflix stand to eat into the amount people are willing to pay Sky every month.

Anyone know what they will do with the crappy boxes that won't be compatible with anytime + ? As I understand it the Thomson hd boxes won't work.

mad muffin

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyone know what they will do with the crappy boxes that won't be compatible with anytime + ? As I understand it the Thomson hd boxes won't work.

In the UK they swapped them free of charge for the latest boxes.

Cantona's Collars

ITV Player on Anytime+ (which probably won't be available here,thank you TV3)



Some interesting stuff in their press release.

Sky Go
We will launch on the Android platform in February. We also plan to expand the channel line-up on our Sky Go mobile service, starting with the addition of Sky Atlantic, closely followed by Sky 1, Sky Living and Sky Sports F1.

Sky Anytime +
We plan to increase distribution to all customers with a Sky+HD box, irrespective of their Internet Service Provider. From today, customers will be able to access archive content from ITV. Seven day catch-up will join the service later this year with the addition of the BBC iPlayer and more ITV content.

zeebox
Launching in the first half of 2012, Sky and zeebox will offer connecting with friends around TV shows, finding more information about what's on TV, and buying products relating to their favourite programmes. From later this year, Sky customers will also be able to use a zeebox powered Sky app to access their Sky+ box on the move, so they can manage their Sky+ recording remotely, as well as using their iPhone or iPad as a remote control for their Sky box, creating a comprehensive and fully integrated companion TV experience.

New internet pay TV service
A new service aimed at the 13 million UK households who don’t currently subscribe to pay TV. Launching in the first half of calendar 2012, the service will be a new way to watch our content via broadband connected devices - on a PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, games console or connected TV. It will offer instant access to Sky Movies on demand, with no dish and no contract, and customers will be able to pay monthly or rent a movie on a simple pay-as-you-go basis. The service will start by offering movies, but will soon expand to offer sport and entertainment as well.

The last paragraph seems to hint at their own version of Netflix.

patwicklow

Should call it sky repeat, because that is all the ever have repeat after repeat
advert every five minutes id rather go outside and look up at the sky anytime then have it on my tv.

Hogzy

patwicklow wrote: »

Should call it sky repeat, because that is all the ever have repeat after repeat
advert every five minutes id rather go outside and look up at the sky anytime then have it on my tv.

Nearly every channel on any network on this planet will show repeats 90% of the time. Its impossible to have fresh programming if you run a 24hr channel.

Averts every 5 mins is a complete exaggeration. They have them every 15mins. We get off lucky compared to our american counterparts.

In the USA (for a 30min show) they have Break-Intro Credits-Break-First half of show-Break-Second Half of Show-Break-Outro Credits-Break. They basically have double the amount of breaks we do.

Cantona's Collars

Hogzy wrote: »

Nearly every channel on any network on this planet will show repeats 90% of the time. Its impossible to have fresh programming if you run a 24hr channel.

Averts every 5 mins is a complete exaggeration. They have them every 15mins. We get off lucky compared to our american counterparts.

In the USA (for a 30min show) they have Break-Intro Credits-Break-First half of show-Break-Second Half of Show-Break-Outro Credits-Break. They basically have double the amount of breaks we do.

Patwicklow just hates Sky.;)

I know one guy who cancelled his Sky due to too many ads,guess what: he found the channels he watched most TV3 and E4 were the worst offenders:rolleyes: Plus he realised that he lost his favourite documentary channels.

Turned on Skins the other night,less than 4 minutes in we had a break,the same near the end of the show,ITV are the same.

As for repeats,they should rename RTE as Repeat Telifis Eireann.The stuff was crap the first time,we don't want repeats of it.

Hogzy is right,I'd hate trying to watch tv in the States,even over here you can pick out spots in the shows where there were meant to be breaks but UK/Irish broadcasters skip them.

BTW-there's no ads during shows on Anytime but the fta fans wouldn't know that.Sky are the best we have for embracing new technology in broadcasting over here,yes we pay for it but a box that does everything and will soon have a vast amount of On-Demand services is a big plus for people.

I wonder if they suddenly stopped charging,how many of these 'Sky Haters' would end up with a Skybox in their houses again???

I'm not a Sky fanboy but I can't understand the same people who pop up in threads that have no relevance to them just to criticise.Do they go to the motoring forum and tell everyone that walking is better?

patwicklow

zerks wrote: »

Patwicklow just hates Sky.;)

I know one guy who cancelled his Sky due to too many ads,guess what: he found the channels he watched most TV3 and E4 were the worst offenders:rolleyes: Plus he realised that he lost his favourite documentary channels.

Turned on Skins the other night,less than 4 minutes in we had a break,the same near the end of the show,ITV are the same.

As for repeats,they should rename RTE as Repeat Telifis Eireann.The stuff was crap the first time,we don't want repeats of it.

Hogzy is right,I'd hate trying to watch tv in the States,even over here you can pick out spots in the shows where there were meant to be breaks but UK/Irish broadcasters skip them.

BTW-there's no ads during shows on Anytime but the fta fans wouldn't know that.Sky are the best we have for embracing new technology in broadcasting over here,yes we pay for it but a box that does everything and will soon have a vast amount of On-Demand services is a big plus for people.

I wonder if they suddenly stopped charging,how many of these 'Sky Haters' would end up with a Skybox in their houses again???

I'm not a Sky fanboy but I can't understand the same people who pop up in threads that have no relevance to them just to criticise.Do they go to the motoring forum and tell everyone that walking is better?

I can read and criticise any tread i wish to and yes i dont like sky apart from the real one

Markdub2000

I have access to ITV player on my humax hdr - quality isn't great compared with anytime but good for catching up on stuff! - the only part that doesn't work is bbc iplayer!

I have a thomson box in the living room, which I willl hate to give up, as it has three beautiful rca connectors on the back that output HD in component analogue, and I can imagine them being the only way of getting my treasured recordings off it should I ever decide to emigrate!! - which looks increasingly likely in this climate!!

I do hate the way this pvr works though, if u decide to dump any channels, you loose access to any recordings you've made of them - this gets my goat as you wouldn't if you'd recorded them on a dvd recorder, Seen as I've already paid to record them I should at least be able to watch them!!

snaps

To avoid adverts.....Watch BBC programmes and record commercial programmes. When replayed you can skip through the adds!!!

greendom

snaps wrote: »

To avoid adverts.....Watch BBC programmes and record commercial programmes. When replayed you can skip through the adds!!!

With the commerical channels you can start to record a programme you want to watch and start watching the recording 10 munutes later. Then you can fast forward through all the ads and by the end you have caught up with everyone who sat through the ads.

mike2084

This might indicate Sky's plans here in Ireland

Sky in talks on 'triple play'

CIARÁN HANCOCK, Business Affairs Correspondent

SATELLITE broadcaster Sky is in talks with local telecoms operators about providing telephone and broadband services to its 675,000 subscribers in the Republic.

“There are talks ongoing,” BSkyB’s chief financial officer Andrew Griffith told The Irish Times this week.

Mr Griffith declined to identify the parties with which Sky is negotiating but it is understood to be in dialogue with Eircom and BT, who could provide wholesale services to the broadcaster. Agreeing a deal with either would allow Sky to offer bundled “triple play” services of TV, phone and broadband. Cable rival UPC Ireland is already offering that to its customers.

“We do look at the market opportunities for broadband and talk in Ireland,” Mr Griffith said. “The [Irish] market is a bit different [from the UK], the way the local loop is owned and operated.

“We looked for many years in the UK before the economics of unbundling were such that we felt we could put an attractive offer to customers.

“We would look to partner with others [in Ireland] and so it depends on the economics we are able to obtain . . . as to whether we could launch a product.”

Even if a deal was agreed this year, it would be 2013 before Sky could offer triple play here, due to the complexity involved in launching such an offer.

Sky this week announced plans to recruit 800 staff in Ireland over the next two years for a new customer support centre. These activities have previously been handled by call centres in Scotland.

Mr Griffith said this involved an investment of between €20 million and €30 million by Sky.

“We felt, and we’ve felt this for a while, but we’ve not always had the resources to follow through, that serving our Irish customers from the Republic is the best thing to do.” In terms of its trading in Ireland in 2011, Mr Griffith said Sky “ended the year with more customers than we started with”.

“We grew the number of products that people take from us, particularly HD [high definition] but it’s fair to say that the market in Ireland and the UK was challenging.”

Sky does not publish financials for its Irish business.

Mr Griffith said Sky was also keen to make more content for its stations in Ireland. “Right now, we’re making Moonboy in the Irish Republic and we’ll be doing more of that.”


http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0204/1224311249262.html

watty

The "talks" have been ongoing for about FIVE years I think.

In the UK they bought an ISP that gave them LLU on about 1/3 exchanges. Also issues of cost and backhaul better in UK. They meet up personally with most Irish ISPs every year (probably not Magnet and UPC). Mobile isn't broadband so that's no use to them. Digiweb on their own aren't big enough. Imagine is fairly poor infrastructure, Eircom is too expensive, BT has pulled out of Retail and Magnet plus UPC are media competitors, though the US Magnet parent is short of cash and rumours of an Irish sell off. But Magent is far too small here anyway.

Compared with UK too many people have ditched land line (maybe 1/3rd) so even if they did a good price deal with Eircom it only gives them 2/3rds of population and majority of the lines are under 3Mbps. Eircom is poorer in non UPC areas where sky has more customers.

Also if Eircom goes bust (not unlikely) then Sky could buy the infrastructure at a firesale price cheaper than any deal with existing Debt ridden Eircom in the longer term. Sky does think of the medium and long term. Hence essentially "free" installs and boxes (thay YOU own from day 1 unlike UPC)

I'd say Sky are fairly frustrated with the situation here.

“The [Irish] market is a bit different [from the UK], the way the local loop is owned and operated.

i.e. Rubbish. Highest retail charge in the world.

helimachoptor

theres always been tyre kicking watty but theres a lot more substance to things now

Cantona's Collars

watty wrote: »

Also if Eircom goes bust (not unlikely) then Sky could buy the infrastructure at a firesale price cheaper than any deal with existing Debt ridden Eircom in the longer term. Sky does think of the medium and long term. Hence essentially "free" installs and boxes (thay YOU own from day 1 unlike UPC)

I'd say Sky are fairly frustrated with the situation here.


i.e. Rubbish. Highest retail charge in the world.

The line rental charges here are astronomical compared to most of the rest of the world.If Sky do launch a triple play service I hope they follow their UK model and have cheaper prices (I think their basic broadband service is free with a tv package) I have Vodafone's 8mb package which is cheaper than Eircom and has much higher download limits so would expect similar if Sky launched a service.

The amount of take-up here would be huge among Sky & many non Sky customers. Irish people are obsessed with just paying one bill even if mixing & matching services can sometimes save money.Having a triple play option ticks all the boxes.

As an aside,Sky are now trialling their fibre service in parts of England,not sure if they'd be willing to go head to head over here with UPC by doing the same seeing as UPC has many of the more densely populated areas pretty much sewn up.

watty

Have Sky installed ANY fibre or are they renting from BT Openreach?

Currently it would be impossible for sky to offer decent speed needed for VOD catchup for more than 1/3rd to 1/2 of DSL customers and impossible to offer a basic DSL free (that's only on their own LLU exchanges which is about 1/3 of UK population). Here a smaller fraction of exchanges have LLU which with backhaul and equipment space space costs is higher price than UK apart from the actual LLU. Also 1/3rd don't even have a line anymore.

Hard to see how Sky can offer the same as UK.

Cantona's Collars

Not sure if they are installing fibre themselves,I read that they are wanting people to trial it over there.

Don't think speeds would be a major issue if the VOD content is downloaded to the box first instead of streaming it.

I know a lot of people using dongles which are worse than useless but persist with them because they have the "ah sure it's only €20 a month" mentality.
Maybe if Sky offered a cheap alternative they'd take it,even 1mb on a stable line would be better than the rubbish a dongle gives.

Back on topic,the Anytime+ service would be a great service and might be a decent rival to Netflix.The technology is in place in homes and people are familiar with the workings of a Skybox so there's nothing new for them to learn how to use.

greendom

If Sky had really been interested in offering a residential broadband/landline business in Ireland they would have bought BT's business when they sold it; instead they left it to Vodafone.

watty

It wasn't big enough. Also that deal involved Vodafone using BT installed Links and BT/CIE fibre for Mobile Base backhaul.

BT's LLU wasn't large enough, it was not much more than they got buying ESAT. Most of the BT customers Vodafone got are actually on Eircom Bitstream.

watty

zerks wrote: »

Don't think speeds would be a major issue if the VOD content is downloaded to the box first instead of streaming it.

True. That's the principle of the Over the Air service, which is 10,000 cheaper.

zerks wrote: »

I know a lot of people using dongles which are worse than useless but persist with them because they have the "ah sure it's only €20 a month" mentality.
Maybe if Sky offered a cheap alternative they'd take it,even 1mb on a stable line would be better than the rubbish a dongle gives.

There is bit here on why 1Mbps DSL beats Mobile
http://www.techtir.ie/comms/mobile-vs-fixed

With 30 GBytes
DSL including a Line in reality costs less than 1/2 as much as Mobile to deliver. An entry level DSL package SHOULD be about €12 including line rental. Instead line rental before you get anything costs more than Mobile.

Note that a 10 Gbyte €20 Mobile data package costs operator x150 to x 350 more than a 1hr voice package at €20 a month mobile.

So the Market is seriously distorted by Eircom's Debt and Mobile cross subsidy of Data by voice & SMS(SMS costs nothing)

greendom

watty wrote: »

It wasn't big enough. Also that deal involved Vodafone using BT installed Links and BT/CIE fibre for Mobile Base backhaul.

BT's LLU wasn't large enough, it was not much more than they got buying ESAT. Most of the BT customers Vodafone got are actually on Eircom Bitstream.

Still would have been a good foothold for them. A decent entry point to the market

mike2084

watty wrote: »

Also if Eircom goes bust (not unlikely) then Sky could buy the infrastructure at a firesale price cheaper than any deal with existing Debt ridden Eircom in the longer term. Sky does think of the medium and long term. Hence essentially "free" installs and boxes (thay YOU own from day 1 unlike UPC)

I'd say that if eircom goes under it would have to look very tempting for Sky to move in alright

mike2084

Lot of talk about this over on DS- tomorrow could be a soft launch day in UK

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=57201527&postcount=137

Minstrel27

Any news of an Irish launch?

MBSnr

Minstrel27 wrote: »

Any news of an Irish launch?

I logged in to the Sky website and saw that they'd changed the website so that Sky BB was no longer a requirement. I clicked Activate and got a message saying I was in the ROI and I would be redirected to the Irish site. Once there no Anytime + option...

p.oconnor

Seems that sky are activating the service across the UK according to the lads on DS, Il send sky an email and ask about us in the republic.

homelink

p.oconnor wrote: »

Seems that sky are activating the service across the UK according to the lads on DS, Il send sky an email and ask about us in the republic.

Looks like we are going to have a long wait (once again) before we can access it here. I contacted C.S. & have been fobbed off with lack of postcodes as a reason from 1 operator & then no permission from Irish service providers from another so called customer support member. (Should be call mis-information centre):mad::mad::mad::mad:

p.oconnor

homelink wrote: »

Looks like we are going to have a long wait (once again) before we can access it here. I contacted C.S. & have been fobbed off with lack of postcodes as a reason from 1 operator & then no permission from Irish service providers from another so called customer support member. (Should be call mis-information centre):mad::mad::mad::mad:

You would be wondering why they would need permission from Irish service providers, isnt it just downloading a legal file over the internet?, I thought that was the service we are paying the service providers for!

Always seems like sky and the likes tend to push Irish subscribers to the back of the room, there pricing structure for Ireland is disgracefull when compared with what is available to customers in the UK.

MBSnr

I can only 'hope' that enabling it in Ireland is a simple step and that they have decided just to do the UK first. I read that the UK won't have BBC iplayer initially anyhow, so I can't see that being a stumbling block to it going live here.

Hopefully now that Netflix have a presence here, Sky might just move things along a little quicker. Wishful thinking? Maybe.

EDIT: Thinking about it, I bet downloading/streaming internet rights issues are going to crop up as per BBC iplayer. ITV player already looks to be on it in the UK so they'll have to edit the way it displays for ROI. If of course we ever get it....
Screenshot Anytime+

vampyre

I was told by an Irish CS person that an issue is the various fair use policies ie download limits the Irish ISPs have. They're relatively small and even if they're not invoked they can't be ignored by Sky. Ironically my ISP doesn't have a d/l limit.
I didn't post this at the time since sky and reliable information seem mutually exclusive a lot of the time.

homelink

MBSnr wrote: »

I can only 'hope' that enabling it in Ireland is a simple step and that they have decided just to do the UK first. I read that the UK won't have BBC iplayer initially anyhow, so I can't see that being a stumbling block to it going live here.

Hopefully now that Netflix have a presence here, Sky might just move things along a little quicker. Wishful thinking? Maybe.

EDIT: Thinking about it, I bet downloading/streaming internet rights issues are going to crop up as per BBC iplayer. ITV player already looks to be on it in the UK so they'll have to edit the way it displays for ROI. If of course we ever get it....
Screenshot Anytime+

The thing is they don't seem to have any rights issues with Sky Go. I understand that there will be issues with the various English terrestrial on-line players but surely Sky must have taken this into account before now. Don't forget anytime+ is up & running to Sky broadband customers for at least a year now, so it's not new technology.
I thought Sky cares :P:P:P

p.oconnor

From sky...

"There will be an update on Anytime+ coming soon, but nothing to update on today."

Hopefully plans are in an advanced stage and they will get RTE, TV3 , TG4 and Setanta all involved and provide a proper service that befits the rest of the service

mike2084

Doesn't look good for Ireland and anytime+

http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Republic-of-Ireland/anytime/m-p/349625#M1307

However, the twitter Sky support still think it hasn't been rolled out to non-Sky UK ISP's so there may be hope yet.

As regards download caps eircom are increasing mine and my employer's download cap to 250GB a month so that should be a help if it's wide scale.

Minstrel27

vampyre wrote: »

I was told by an Irish CS person that an issue is the various fair use policies ie download limits the Irish ISPs have. They're relatively small and even if they're not invoked they can't be ignored by Sky. Ironically my ISP doesn't have a d/l limit.
I didn't post this at the time since sky and reliable information seem mutually exclusive a lot of the time.

What bollocks they told you. UK ISP's have download limits too. Like you I also have no cap.

MBSnr

homelink wrote: »

The thing is they don't seem to have any rights issues with Sky Go. I understand that there will be issues with the various English terrestrial on-line players but surely Sky must have taken this into account before now. Don't forget anytime+ is up & running to Sky broadband customers for at least a year now, so it's not new technology.
I thought Sky cares :P:P:P

Oh Sky care alright... just not about us!

I'd forgotten about Sky Go. So being 'optimistic' perhaps we'll get it at some point, as I can't imagine it's that big a job to have two separate front ends on the box for Anytime+ based on your sub card being UK or ROI. But then having said that, when I'm logged in to the Sky Go website I'm offered content from the BBC that I can't watch.... Genius. If they can't get that right....

dino7

I wouldn't be surprised if they're holding back on Sky Anytime+ for ROI in order to coincide with launching a telephone + BB package. They could tie access to Anytime+ to those using their broadband service like they did in the UK.

The significant technical issue with Anytime+ for ROI is managing a separate catalogue and also a euro charging structure for Sky Store (Anytime+ Box Office).

homelink

dino7 wrote: »

I wouldn't be surprised if they're holding back on Sky Anytime+ for ROI in order to coincide with launching a telephone + BB package. They could tie access to Anytime+ to those using their broadband service like they did in the UK.

The significant technical issue with Anytime+ for ROI is managing a separate catalogue and also a euro charging structure for Sky Store (Anytime+ Box Office).

I think you're spot on regarding the hold back.
As for the technical issue, they have only had over a year to sort it out for Ireland. Sky cares, don't ya know.:D:D:D