Interesting article on rxtinfo website

[Anonymous]

Very interesting article on rxtinfo.com

https://rxtvinfo.com/2023/sky-glass-sales-underwhelming-according-to-report/

[TimmyBGood]

@Anonymous 

The original story is behind the Times / Sunday Times paywall, but doesn't exactly contain any stunning revelations.

Comcast overpaid for Sky - certainly, and hence the eight billion dollar writedown last year.

Glass televisions are too expensive - we've kind of identified that before.

Eventually Sky won't need satellite installers - um, yes.

It reads a bit like it's written by a forum reader ; )

[SlenderRobert]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Very interesting article on rxtinfo.com

https://rxtvinfo.com/2023/sky-glass-sales-underwhelming-according-to-report/

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Sky's response says it all about how woefully out of touch they are:

In response to The Sunday Times, Sky said:

“Sky’s unique business is built on constant innovation. In the last three years we have revolutionised our offering, transforming our TV platforms through Sky Glass and Stream to be a home for all the best apps.”

What precisely is revolutionary or transformative about putting a few apps onto a box or a TV? The same apps have been on Q for longer than Glass & Stream have been around, and streaming apps have been built in to most smart TV's for a decade or more. 

[Anonymous]

The article although quite scant does actually point out the challenges Sky have to face. 

I've always said the TV sector requires annual innovation to keep ahead, Sky are still messing around with the original Glass release.

I'm fairly sure unless Sky can bring to market a 55" TV around £399 they've had it.

The stream box will be the forerunner moving forward, cheap to make and ship.

Content providers obviously see scope in revenue through subscription and perhaps a bit late in this move Sky are now adding more apps to their platforms. A stream box will become no different to A Firestick, Roku Apple TV eventually.

In the UK viewers still have this need to watch linear programming, its 19:30 quick corrie is on and Sky for now still cash in on that. It amazes me that subscribers pay for an entertainment pack when I bet the highest viewing content in that pack are the main terrestrial free to air channels.

Paying for HD content or UHD content and wholehome not to mention AD skipping is bonkers but an easy solution so people do it.

It is always horses for courses and what is fine for one consumer is alien to another you pay and take your choice.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Anonymous wrote:

A stream box will become no different to A Firestick, Roku Apple TV eventually.

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Quite possibly, but the fundamental difference is that the users of those hardware devices aren't paying £30 to £60 each month to a single provider.

[Jporch316]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

A stream box will become no different to A Firestick, Roku Apple TV eventually.

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Quite possibly, but the fundamental difference is that the users of those hardware devices aren't paying £30 to £60 each month to a single provider.

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And having to give them back if they don't want to pay £30 to £60 each month 

[Anonymous]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

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Quite possibly, but the fundamental difference is that the users of those hardware devices aren't paying £30 to £60 each month to a single provider.

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I'm not quite sure what your point is!

Is it that paying £30-£60 to a single provider is a better solution albeit you are highly likely paying more than if purchased separately?

Plus with Apple as an example you can subscribe to Discovery Crime & Investigation, Disney etc. etc. Through the Apple subscription service so you are paying like with Sky to a single provider.

[TimmyBGood]

@Anonymous 

My point is a large chunk of a Sky subscription goes towards supporting the mammoth infrastructure Sky has built up over decades of being a near monopoly supplier, plus a whole bunch of Sky-brand 'live' channels carrying content fewer people are interested in.  An increasing percentage of subscribers are now firmly of the belief that about £10 pcm is the 'right' price for a service, and I seriously doubt Sky in its current form is maintainable at that kind of income level. 

[SlenderRobert]

With the launch of Sky Protect this week and the relaunch of Sky Business to 'mark a multi-product era', I wonder if Sky & Comcast's head honchos have been watching too much Succession? This week's episode in particular, with the launch of Living+, particularly seems a bit too close to home... 

[Anonymous]

@TimmyBGood 

Got you 👍

I was a Sky customer 25 years plus, I even had a BSB squarial but they lost me over Glass & Stream. Yes it's new and developing but they charge a pretty penny to put up with their development.

[Anonymous]

@TimmyBGood I'm with @Anonymous on this one, nearly 25 years with Sky myself and with my parents we were in it at nearly day one.

WIth ...

 

Sky lost me a few months ago and to be very honest really enjoying our new setup, similar to @Anonymous 

[techman9]

“Sky’s unique business is built on constant innovation. In the last three years we have revolutionised our offering, transforming our TV platforms through Sky Glass and Stream to be a home for all the best apps.”

🤣

[TimmyBGood]

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@techman9 wrote:

 In the last three years we have revolutionised our offering

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Also that timescale doesn't make sense.

Q (hosting apps) launched in early 2016.

Comcast acquired Sky in late 2018

Glass was released in October 2021

Stream as a standalone product started a year later.

The only 'three years' I can see is between Comcast taking over and Glass arriving

[SlenderRobert]

@TimmyBGood 

It's the usual PR nonsense. Make something up that sounds positive without any basis on fact. 

Damage control. There's not a lot else worth shouting about...

That Sky Stream TV Simplified ad campaign doesn't seem to be getting much traction. I haven't seen or heard it anywhere except on YouTube... and even then only by searching for it. 

It feels like there's some frantic "we have to fix this" going on behind the scenes.

[techman9]

The technology doesn't help it's mediocre to acceptable at best which is a shame because they could of gone many ways with this.

The downfall I feel will be content at the end I am extremely interested in which direction HBO will go once the contract has ended, I hope standalone.

Apart from a couple of shows I haven't hardly used my NowTV in ages, and they are coming to an end anyway.

I guess sky is still a must for sport fans, but for general entertainment there are a lot better options out there.