Sky to open net telly channels to all
Pay to view over the internet
Sky is to enter the IPTV arena with an internet-hosted TV service of its own.
The station will launch before July this year, the satellite broadcaster pledged, and it'll see many of Sky's existing channels, including Sky Movies, being streamed over the net to a range of devices.
Sky promised owners of "PCs, Macs, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, games consoles and connected TVs" will be able to access the service.
How the financial side will work is unclear. Sky already makes streams of its content available to satellite subscribers. It promised other folk will be able to view its channels over the internet with "no minimum contract" - pay to view, in other words.
The current service, Sky Go, will continue as "a bonus service for existing Sky TV customers".
Sky's scheme was undoubtedly spurred by the arrival of US movie streamer Netflix to the UK and the price and content fight with local rival the Amazon-owned Lovefilm.
Both streaming services are hindered by the limited range of material they offer to watch. Sky has content in spades and since it already has the rights to stream much of that material to its customers, it's in a good position to extend those rights deals to paying punters who are not subscribers. ®
COMMENTS
and the BBC
Compare and contrast with the BBC. Pay £150 per year for all TV, Radio, humongous Website, podcasts, free Iplayer repeats, stacks of great original content that you actually want to watch.
And the Cabinet of Millionaires wanted to sell it to their chum, the Dirty Digger that was. For the time being they can't do that.
You've got to watch the 1%, their grannies are already sold, NHS on the way. If you don't like it shout out! You won't know what you've lost till its gone.
I'd better buy my long spoon now...
'Cos if they stream Sky F1 as pay to view, I'm there...
Content is not the only hurdle
"Both streaming services are hindered by the limited range of material they offer to watch"
and more importnatly to many are completely useless outside areas with proper broadband speeds and low contention ratios. This will also limit Sky in this regard as it does iPlayer etc.
Long live Freeview HD (although I was perfectly happy with analogue TTV)
I have heard about this before... and it is one of my main gripes...they reward customers who kick up a stink more than those who just pay the bill each month. It seems like an odd way of rewarding loyal customers, by ignoring them and just giving discounts to those who shout loudest...
(not having a go at you by the way.. it is the culture at Sky that makes it worth your while to make that call every few months that annoys me...)
