Sky to Downgrade it's Service

carrolls

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,685170,00.html

Does it mean that they will drop prices for the basic services.
I was led to believe that the reason Sky Digital was so expensive
was that the normal Family Pack subscriber was propping up the less popular
Pay and PPV options. Now that some of these premium channels will be
eliminated, can they be justified in charging the same price for the Family Pack?
And for what you get on the family pack, the amount of advertisments on these channels
should subsidize the price to a fraction of what we should be paying.

I'll eat my hat if Sky reduce charges.
Their main priority is to maximise profit for themselves.
channel choice and the quality therof will always be second to that.
Because they are a monopoly in all but name, it's easier for them to lower programme and channel standards and not expect a backlash in terms of redused customer base growth.
mm

Charles Slane

Originally posted by madman
I'll eat my hat if Sky reduce charges.

Me too !! (Provided Madman doesn't mind me eating his hat).

Ozzie

Up to last year we nearly had live football every night with the Nationwide League and Worthington Cup, etc on Sky. That's all stopped now. All we have is Sweet F.A. (Cup and Premiership (ha ha!)), but are paying the same, if not more! So no chance of a reduction.

Oz.:mad:

carrolls

I think Madman's hat is safe.:p
But if MovieMax and some of the other movie channels
are axed as well as the FA cup and Rugby Internationals,
a lot of the subscribers to Sky Sports, Movie world and Sky World
will take their business elsewhere.
Even with moviemax there, the choice on Movie world was pathetic. Film Four is miles ahead and cheaper.;)

byte

BSkyB is also preparing to negotiate downwards the price of three Hollywood movie contracts that come up for renewal over the next 30 months. One of the three is likely to be dropped altogether, according to analysts at JP Morgan.

I wonder what three? If they start dropping movie rights will this mean less decent movies - there are few enough as is. Or mebbe FilmFour would take rights of whatever Sky don't want (meaning F4 costing more )

carrolls

Now that ITV Digital is on its knees, BSkyB think (Or know) they have now a free reign to do anything they please, knowing that the viewer has nowhere to turn.
They feel they don't have to entice people over to their sevice anymore. People will subscribe anyway.
What I think will happen now is that Sky will gradually cut back their services channel by channel, testing the water every so often to see how gradually pissed their customers are getting.
They will apply the Bruce Springsteen approach, ie Two channels zapped, one channel introduced, in a vain attempt to give the viewers a perception that they are getting more for their money when they are actually getting less.

DMC

Do not expect to see BSkyB get a free run at anything...

Before the collapse of ITV Digital, BSkyB were being investigate by the Office of Fair Trading. They will report their findings later in the year, and quite possibly, one of the recommendations is to split Sky, one part Sky, the programme maker (to control Sky One, Sky Sports etc) and another part, Sky, the service and gateway provider.

Also, organisations like the ITC wouldn't allow such a deterioration in service, such as dropping channels like movies without recognising that the customer could be getting a raw deal. ITV Digital maybe on the way out, but they have maintained the service to date. But Sky is not broke, this would be a strategy more than anything else. It simply could not happen like this.

We might have toothless regulation over here, but over in the UK, its different. They can shake the big stick and often smack.

Charles Slane

I wouldn't expect anything too dramatic, as Sky are still trying to increase their subscriber base.

I get the feeling that Sky are really just (slyly) letting the sports and movie rights sellers that they're not going to pay as much as they have up until now.

To be honest the bidding wars for rights didn't do the viewers any favours. Ludicrous amounts of money were being payed, and the only way to continue to make profit was to increase subscription costs.

telecinesk

Good,
Im downgrading sky to my subs being cancelled this month.

Paid my year and I certainly have no intention throwing money at them this year> Thanks for the free box etc.. My BBC card will do nicely.As for sport, forget it.

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by telecinesk
Good,
Im downgrading sky to my subs being cancelled this month.

Paid my year and I certainly have no intention throwing money at them this year> Thanks for the free box etc.. My BBC card will do nicely.As for sport, forget it.

Excellent, well said.

My FTV card was the best investment I ever made!

My hat is genuine leather:D

I find Damo's comments interesting.
There is a real conflict in the present set up; ie Sky the platform owner and Sky the channel owner.
We have seen that conflict here at it's worst in ROI, with Sky not making it easy for channels to arrive on it's platform that would compete with Sky one.

I would find it regretfull if they cut back on their movie channel choice though as with a good surround sound system,Almost anything is watchable:p
They could get rid of Box office entirely and use their greater bargaining power to bring those movies much earlier to beef up their movie world package.
Now that would be an improvement
mm

telecinesk

Hi,
My brother is enjoying free to view DTT in the UK.Another good investment in a box.As for Sky, well the BBC card arrived and I can confirm all channels working inc (Oh Joy) S4C, imagine they have 1 viewer in central europe! No ITV but sky can jump this month.Free box,worth the pain of ads inflicting my screen for 12 months.
Regards from Austria>]

triple-play

Even if Sky decrease their channel line up I believe that they will increase their pricing over time not decrease it.
My understanding is that the Sky subscriber acquisition rate in Ireland is slowing and will soon reach its peak (unless of course ntl and/or Chorus go out of business flooding the market with new potential Sky subs). Sky have made it clear that in Ireland they are going for the higher end of the market and aim to increase average revenues per user (ARPU) which is a cheaper -and more profitable activity, than attempting to acquire (and subsidise) new subs from other platforms.

Also, and probably the biggest reason Sky will in my opinion increase their prices during the next 18 months, is that they may soon be 'regulated' by the ODTR. If they are regulated then they will pay the 3.5% levy on gross revenues that ntl and Chorus must pay. The EU are behind this move and are supporting national regulators like the ODTR.

Interesting times ahead...