Drop the subscription costs if you're going to include adverts

[hidyjane]

We really need to ask Sky to drop the charges. It is getting rediculous! How much of TV do we want to watch? BBC charge a TV licence for adverts but now we have 'unrelated' charges on an already paid Sky TV? What do you think????

[MarkGoldsmith]

I'm not really sure what you are getting at here.

Sky can only control the adverts they broadcast on their channels, or the adverts they insert into their on-demand content. They cannot control the ads put in by other broadcasters on their channels or even on their on-demand content.

Also with the ad-skipping add-on available on Sky Glass and Sky Stream, you could claim Sky have done exactly that. The "cheaper" more ads option is available, along with an additional charge with you want to be able to skip ads on a number of catch-up services.

All major services are now offering more expensive tiers to remove or skip adverts. Thats the way the industry is going as they need to make up for the lost advertising revenue.

[hidyjane]

I'm going on the fact that we pay a uk TV licnece that allows us to watch a program without adverts, yet Sky charge a fee but we also have random adverts that are added to the content we are watching. I am finding it impossible to watch a movie if there are adverts inbeteen inturrupting what I am trying to watch. It distroys what I am viewing.. 

[MarkGoldsmith]

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@hidyjane wrote:

I'm going on the fact that we pay a uk TV licnece that allows us to watch a program without adverts, yet Sky charge a fee but we also have random adverts that are added to the content we are watching. I am finding it impossible to watch a movie if there are adverts inbeteen inturrupting what I am trying to watch. It distroys what I am viewing.. 

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The reason we pay the license fee is to fund the public service broadcasters e.g the BBC. The reason that the BBC can't show adverts is because we all pay the license fee. Talks of the license fee being removed have been talked about your years. Fo you know what would happen to the BBC if the license fee went away, they would likely start showing adverts and have paid for tiers on the IPlayer.

The majority of broadcasters are commercial companies that need to make money to survive.

[hidyjane]

Hi, thank you for your quick response and that is totally understandable. However, we are paying a fee to Sky so we  should not be getting advetisments along side this. We never used to and that was fine  but now we do.. What is their reasoning for this?

[GD1]

@hidyjane  You pay for a Pay TV service to obtain channels that would not normally be available elesewhere, your TV subs don't cover the full costs of all the channels you have access to which as already explained need adverts to survive, this has alway been the case since multchannel TV became a thing from the mid to late 80s, the only option if these other 3rd party channels removed adverts would be to substantially increase your TV subs.

[TimmyBGood]

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@hidyjane wrote:

 We never used to and that was fine  but now we do.. What is their reasoning for this?

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The television advertising business model is essentially broken, and rates chargeable have collapsed.  The alternative to advertising being inserted in on-demand content is either far higher subscription cost, new premium content not being made, or channels closing.

Having said that, it's unlikely that the entire television business will be anything like it is now in ten years time anyway.

[hidyjane]

, it's s unlikely that the entire television business will be anything like it is now in ten years time anyway.

How do you think it will change?

[TimmyBGood]

@hidyjane 

I suspect:

There won't be any terrestrial or satellite broadcasting at all: delivery will be entirely online. Satellite television in the UK may cease before 2030 when the orbiting platforms reach their operational end-of-life, so Sky Television faces an existential crisis.

The BBC may well lose its Licence Fee income, and will consequently be reduced to a vestigial service.

Most live 'channels' won't still be operating in anything like their current form, but there will be hundreds of IP channels scrabbling to survive through recycling cheap existing content.

A significant percentage of new content will be generated by AI, reducing production cost but breaking the current industry catastrophically.

Television advertising may not exist: it already has almost no impact, but keeps going through sheer inertia.

Subscription services will be universal for premium content consumption.