Interesting article on rxtinfo website

[Anonymous]

I never understand why Sky run all these channels and movie channels churning out the same over and over and over.

There is very little fresh UK content, most are American imports. Max and Showcase, what's that all about?

Sky crime, mostly USA with one new major subject a month as they spread it over 4 weeks. Sky Documentary the same.

Cut costs cut all these channels, put it on demand and run 2 or 3 channels for linear viewing. Movies even more so.

But, all the channels appear to provide so much more content and the entertainment charge is £26, can't charge that for just a few channels. It's madness!

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous when we signed up to NOW, after leaving Sky, we decided to not have cinema as we hardly watched it on Glass due to so little new content.  

BTW have you noticed that the NOW ATV app updated today and now uses the ATV player and has 5.1 sound.  Who knows, 4K next!

[CardiffMan1992]

@Anonymous 

That is a big improvement indeed i used NOW for years and the UI and lack of 5.1 did put me off not sure that's it's enough to bring me back though as I really do like the Cloud Recording for F1 that Stream has now.

[Lucyliu2]

Sky Glass is a covenient all in one lifestyle system for relatively undemanding users. A major software relwase is not far away and if it tidies up the functionality issues around the playlist and better integrates the more important apps it will serve its target market nicely.

More discerning users should be buying separates, configured for there specific needs. Glass provides the functionality that most people want, most of the time. Just deliver the seemless integration promised in the marketing and it will be worth it's cost.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Anonymous when we signed up to NOW, after leaving Sky, we decided to not have cinema as we hardly watched it on Glass due to so little new content.  

BTW have you noticed that the NOW ATV app updated today and now uses the ATV player and has 5.1 sound.  Who knows, 4K next!

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Yes even better NOW 😂

Makes Sky Go look medieval with the 540/720p output.

NOW is a huge part of the Sky portfolio, why faff about with hardware when Sky can cash in with this app? 

With the decline of satellite eventually and the troubles with Stream it wouldn't surprise me in 5 years comcast just go down the app route. Its all about money!

[TimmyBGood]

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@Anonymous wrote:

NOW is a huge part of the Sky portfolio, why faff about with hardware when Sky can cash in in this app? 

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I think I've suggested before: consumers won't pay 'Sky' prices for a software-only product, but the current scale of Sky Group (c30,000 staff plus substantial real-estate) requires that kind of income to maintain.

[Anonymous]

@TimmyBGood 

It's all hyperthetical anyway but customers wouldn't and aren't paying like for like with an app product the company would restructure IF it went down that route. It wouldn't require such overheads.

Many large organisations do this to reduce overheads and losses.

Partial sell offs, redundancies, restructure. Staff sadly are just numbers dispensed with overnight.

Take IBM initially hardware and software, now majority software.

Littlewoods catalogues, catalogue only, then high street stores now online. Real Estate is easily moved on just look at M&S.

Daewoo cars, not to be seen now, they make Kitchen appliances.

Companies change and evolve to survive, Comcast are no different they move with the money and stampede through anything in their way.

So never say never. Sky is no longer the Sky of old, it is Comcast.

But as said all hyperthetical as only the Board know the future path.

[TimmyBGood]

@Anonymous 

I agree, but then it's not really 'Sky' any more (like International Business Machines - 100 years old in 2024 - without its initials on hardware isn't really IBM).  I also think it's probably inevitable: Sky has no more right to exist in a very different world to the one they dominated than Kodak did.

[Anonymous]

• @TimmyBGood 

Yes very true.

These companies are constantly changing to innovate and stay competitive.  

Sky marketing is quite clever, the tag line "All you need is Sky" does drive consumers to thinking I need Sky or Virgin or BT etc. For my TV needs these days. But, in reality you don't need any of them as a platform there are alternatives that often work out far cheaper.

Anyway as for Now, seeing Comcast have integrated the app into the Apple format can only be a good thing for consumer choice. 

[SlenderRobert]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Anyway as for Now, seeing Comcast have integrated the app into the Apple format can only be a good thing for consumer choice. 

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I had a play with the updated NOW app on ATV last night. It's really very good. It's exactly the UI experience I wanted Stream to be - simple, fast and functional. 

As you say, it's great that they're offering consumer choice. If they'd put the 4K streams of Sky content on there I'd be very happy to pay for them. I don't need a disfunctional playlist, a ton of streamed channels I don't watch, slow opening apps I've already got elsewhere, and a load of random ancient games with a minute of advertising before you can play them. I just want to find and watch content from a simple interface in as good a quality as I can get it.  

[Anonymous]

@SlenderRobert 

Agree!

I've noticed some additional content too when pressing the down arrow during playback which is quite nice.

I like the NOW UI that is the one going with Stream those gaudy bright over processed colours and menus, turn it down a bit Sky.

I was reading an article this morning 4K is coming, just a case of when but i suspect it will happen especially now they've invested into full Apple TV integration 😁

Fraser Stirling - Chief Products Officer

"We're always trying to raise the bar for the quality of the content," he said. "When you are in a streaming world, there's always challenges there, but not as many as there used to be. I think the beauty of the Boost add-on is that [4K HDR] is something we can really invest in.

"We're always moving towards offering the best level of content, so that's something we're definitely looking at."

[SlenderRobert]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was reading an article this morning 4K is coming, just a case of when but i suspect it will happen especially now they've invested into full Apple TV integration 😁

Fraser Stirling - Chief Products Officer

"We're always trying to raise the bar for the quality of the content," he said. "When you are in a streaming world, there's always challenges there, but not as many as there used to be. I think the beauty of the Boost add-on is that [4K HDR] is something we can really invest in.

"We're always moving towards offering the best level of content, so that's something we're definitely looking at."

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He gave that quote almost exactly two years ago... let's hope the update to the app means that it's finally coming to fruition!

[CardiffMan1992]

in fairness I never thought Apple TV UI and 5.1 would ever happen with NOW it was a back reason I left because it wasn't a nice system to use at all.

[TimmyBGood]

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@SlenderRobert wrote:

Fraser Stirling - Chief Products Officer

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Must be a strange and challenging (though presumably very well renumerated) post to hold: cheerleading on Glass and then announcing it was broken at launch, having oversight of millions of Q installations while running an advertising campaign telling the world how inconvenient these are, and now perhaps lauding software over hardware in what's always been a hardware company.  Also worth noting that his corporate pathway goes from BSkyB into Comcast and back to Sky.  Had a brief encounter with him at a pre-pandemic 'Oracles' trip down at Osterley Park, and he seems like a really nice chap: I'm looking forward to a tell-all autobigraphy on what really happened between 2019-21.

[Anonymous]

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@CardiffMan1992 wrote:

in fairness I never thought Apple TV UI and 5.1 would ever happen with NOW it was a back reason I left because it wasn't a nice system to use at all.

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Well it has thankfully. 😊

It makes sense for Comcast to push their products across as many platforms as possible where cost effective. Whether Stream, Glass, Q, Now etc. it shouldn't matter to Sky so long as customers sign up and money is generated.