[i love sky]

A family member signed up to Now TV last night and see there was a little message on there website saying Sports will be added soon.

So does anyone know when they plan to add the sport and like the live movie channels on there i take it they will also show the live sports channels as well?

With sky bringing out Now TV is there any point of Sky go?

[Adam_Mortimer]

lets hope,plus it be great if they added normal tv too like catch up from sky 1,syfy,fx

[Gray77]

Well hopefully they do get this sorted and announced prior to Xmas. It could be a potential game changer for me. I have YouView through BT and will get their sports channel from next Summer. If I can add the odd big Premier League game that Sky show for around £10 from my box on Now TV then I would really consider ditching Sky and going with this route.

We will all have to wait and see what prices they charge for PPV and whether they make the entire Sky Sports channels available or just the live games on a PPV basis.

[howard h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gray77

Well hopefully they do get this sorted and announced prior to Xmas. It could be a potential game changer for me. I have YouView through BT and will get their sports channel from next Summer. If I can add the odd big Premier League game that Sky show for around £10 from my box on Now TV then I would really consider ditching Sky and going with this route.

We will all have to wait and see what prices they charge for PPV and whether they make the entire Sky Sports channels available or just the live games on a PPV basis.

Isn't that what they DON'T want?

Must be quite a headache for them, how many subs would they gain from peeps like me that wouldn't go near them with a barge pole but wouldn't mind subbing on an occasional basis, from those who have it and think this would be a cheaper option?

Have a feeling the NOW prices might be reasonable to start with, and then just rocket.

[Gray77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard h

Isn't that what they DON'T want?

Must be quite a headache for them, how many subs would they gain from peeps like me that wouldn't go near them with a barge pole but wouldn't mind subbing on an occasional basis, from those who have it and think this would be a cheaper option?

Have a feeling the NOW prices might be reasonable to start with, and then just rocket.

I don't think too many will leave Sky just to get Now TV via another means. I think I may be in the minority. What they definitely do want is people like you giving them a tenner every now and again as opposed to nothing. You're the market they wish to attract, and I think they'll do okay.

[howard h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gray77

I don't think too many will leave Sky just to get Now TV via another means. I think I may be in the minority. What they definitely do want is people like you giving them a tenner every now and again as opposed to nothing. You're the market they wish to attract, and I think they'll do okay.

To get me it's got to be as easy to unsubscribe as subscribe. I understand that "Top-up TV" containing Sky Sports 1 and 2 isn't only expensive, but also takes a lot of effort to unsubscribe from (anyone??) in the way Setanta did.

If it's "go to account" "Click unsubscribe" and job done, then fine. If I have to start ringing in, giving 2 month's notice, forget it!

[1andrew1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gray77

I don't think too many will leave Sky just to get Now TV via another means. I think I may be in the minority. What they definitely do want is people like you giving them a tenner every now and again as opposed to nothing. You're the market they wish to attract, and I think they'll do okay.

Exactly. Friend of mine's a keen QPR fan, works every other Saturday, not very well paid. He would be happy to spend a tenner once a month to see a QPR match but would never be a £50pm regular subscriber.

[promo-only]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Exactly. Friend of mine's a keen QPR fan, works every other Saturday, not very well paid. He would be happy to spend a tenner once a month to see a QPR match but would never be a £50pm regular subscriber.

That's the key thing for Sky - to monetise something that they're not currently tapping in on.

The key thing will be price. Too high and very few will purchase the live matches... too low and those who subscribe purely for Sky Sports/football will start to rethink. Obviously the bigger the team then the more times they're on TV so it'll be interesting to see how that goes but for fans of the 'smaller' teams who only get an occasional look in, this will be ideal.

I'd happily pay around £8.99, maybe even a bit more, for a full 90 minute match. I'd take that any day over a dodgy online stream.

[promo-only]

Wonder if they'll also put the 'Football First' highlights up for a small rental fee if they're awarded those rights?

[Clusterbombed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard h

If it's "go to account" "Click unsubscribe" and job done, then fine. If I have to start ringing in, giving 2 month's notice, forget it!

At the moment, that's exactly what it is. You just change your details on the website. I did it after the free month's trial when it launched, and although the option is buried on the website when you know where it is it's easy.

[1andrew1]

Today's Sunday Times article on BT Vision mentions Now TV and states:

Quote:

Sky plans to add sports to the mix by the end of the year.

[TelevisionUser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Today's Sunday Times article on BT Vision mentions Now TV and states:

I'm surprised that they would do this because they're undercutting their own satellite service which requires you to subscribe to the base entertainment pack first before you can subscribe to the additional sports pack as well so it's £45+ a month just to get the sports on Sky. That said, it'll all depend upon their Now TV pricing which I await with interest.

[1andrew1]

Post 8 from promo-only covers Sky's dilemna well. I was reminded last week about this when I saw a few messages from people on Facebook keen to watch the ATP Tennis final live but did not have Sky. They would have been happy to pay £10 for that.

[Gray77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Post 8 from promo-only covers Sky's dilemna well. I was reminded last week about this when I saw a few messages from people on Facebook keen to watch the ATP Tennis final live but did not have Sky. They would have been happy to pay £10 for that.

This is exactly the point. The Murray US Open Final, the Heineken Cup Final, Super League Grand Final, a big Champions League game, an NFL play-off game, the last day of an Ashes Test, a Man United-Man City PL game, etc, etc. Ask some people for £600 a year and a commitment of a 12 month contract and they say no, but give them the option to buy 8-10 special events every year at £10 a pop with no add ons and they will.

Sky know that the people who will use Now TV are generally not people who will subscribe to their services. It's not undercutting their base service, it is adding to a potential customer base of millions of people who will happily give them £50-100 a year but at present give them nothing.

[darkwinter]

The ATP Tennis Final (if you mean the one at the O2 Arena) was shown live on BBC3. Sky not needed to see it.

[1andrew1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkwinter

The ATP Tennis Final (if you mean the one at the O2 Arena) was shown live on BBC3. Sky not needed to see it.

You're spot on, my error, I meant the semi-final (Federer v Murray).

[howard h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gray77

This is exactly the point. The Murray US Open Final, the Heineken Cup Final, Super League Grand Final, a big Champions League game, an NFL play-off game, the last day of an Ashes Test, a Man United-Man City PL game, etc, etc. Ask some people for £600 a year and a commitment of a 12 month contract and they say no, but give them the option to buy 8-10 special events every year at £10 a pop with no add ons and they will.

Sky know that the people who will use Now TV are generally not people who will subscribe to their services. It's not undercutting their base service, it is adding to a potential customer base of millions of people who will happily give them £50-100 a year but at present give them nothing.

Interesting that the "big events" could be charged a tenner, which is fair enough. Wonder whether if Sky were allowed to show the (football) World Cup exclusively, what would they charge per day and/or for the whole three weeks?

Also, the above relates to "big events", But suppose your own fave footy team languishing in the lower divisions got a game live. What would the charge for that be? Would enough of their fans splash out a tenner, but no-one else, or would the price be much lower to get a bigger audience?

Have a feeling the cost will be as high as possible - maybe too high and put most people off, so Sky could say this service was financially untenable and pull. That way they could say "we've dabbled in the live stream market, it was unpopular so we've binned it "

For once, I hope Sky don't overcharge and this is a success. If it is we might get other media companies streaming events other than (ruddy) football!

[promo-only]

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard h

Interesting that the "big events" could be charged a tenner, which is fair enough. Wonder whether if Sky were allowed to show the (football) World Cup exclusively, what would they charge per day and/or for the whole three weeks?

Also, the above relates to "big events", But suppose your own fave footy team languishing in the lower divisions got a game live. What would the charge for that be? Would enough of their fans splash out a tenner, but no-one else, or would the price be much lower to get a bigger audience?

Have a feeling the cost will be as high as possible - maybe too high and put most people off, so Sky could say this service was financially untenable and pull. That way they could say "we've dabbled in the live stream market, it was unpopular so we've binned it "

For once, I hope Sky don't overcharge and this is a success. If it is we might get other media companies streaming events other than (ruddy) football!

Absolutely no chance that the cost will be as high as possible just so Sky can pull the plug! Why would they bother starting it in the first place if they had no desire to make it work? This is an additional source of income for them, it's the monetization of non-pay households to entice people in for the odd thing here and the odd thing there so why would they purposefully over price just to shut the thing down?

Look at the Now TV movies service - that was actually £1 cheaper that what's offered via Sky on satellite so we don't know anything until it's announced.

I have a feeling that they'll only offer individual events that have a fighting chance of making some notable money. What's the point of offering something that's going to appeal to 4 people in the arse end of nowhere when the massive head to head Premier League match could encourage thousands to get the debit card out. I think they could possibly offer a range of options - by individual event, by day, by month, catch-up only etc... We'll find out for real soon enough.

[alexw4444]

Quote:

Originally Posted by promo-only

AThis is an additional source of income for them, it's the monetization of non-pay households to entice people in for the odd thing here and the odd thing there so why would they purposefully over price just to shut the thing down?

Not that they're going to overprice the service, I don't think that would make sense either.

But they must be aware they'll lose some of their Sky subscription customers to Now TV.

Maybe they are just admitting that they were going to lose some customers anyway, and they'd rather lose them to their own subsidiary, than to Lovefilm or Netflix who they seem to be comparing themselves to in advertising.

[Gray77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexw4444

Not that they're going to overprice the service, I don't think that would make sense either.

But they must be aware they'll lose some of their Sky subscription customers to Now TV.

Maybe they are just admitting that they were going to lose some customers anyway, and they'd rather lose them to their own subsidiary, than to Lovefilm or Netflix who they seem to be comparing themselves to in advertising.

I'm not sure they'd lose too many really. People who subscribe to SS do so usually to watch it many times over a month. Even people who just watch football will usually watch a game every weekend and maybe a CL game as well, so to do that would cost £50 per month if based on a £10 per game predicted price.

Then there are those who watch multiple sports, who watch all five days of Test matches etc. No way would it make financial sense for them to switch to a PPV model.

For me it's all about Sky getting people to dip in and out and pay for things that at present they either do without or go to the pub to watch.

For example, I have mates who follow the NFL, are happy with Game Pass and the live games on C4 and BBC Red Button for the regular season, but come Play Off time they can't get live games and resort to streaming or delayed torrents. If Now TV did a play off PPV deal for £30 or allowed them to watch a weekend of NFL for £10 a go then they'd definitely buy it. That is what Sky are banking on, and IMO it will work.

[1andrew1]

@Gray77. Totally agree. I suspect that one influencing factor behind sport on NowTV has been the piracy of content for crucial matches. Sky has no doubt seen that piracy fluctuates around key events and have worked out a way to convert some of it into adhoc sales. Using IPTV is a very cost effective way of entering this market.