Sky Cinema vs Sky Store

[KGILL82]

Recently I've noticed that when I start watching a free movie on Sky Cinema, a couple of days later it disappears and ends up in Sky Store. 

It happened recently with The Matrix literally in the last 10 days. Started watching one evening, came back to it the next day...  not there, suddenly only available on Sky Store. 

Happened this week with Gladiator. Two days ago it was free on Cinema, I got some of the way through, came back to it today and it's now only on Store. 

Are Sky monitoring what we're watching and switching from free service to paid hoping we'll pay the additional cost to carry on watching a film we've started or am I just THAT unlucky to have this happen twice in 10 days?

[oldfella]

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@KGILL82 wrote:

Recently I've noticed that when I start watching a free movie on Sky Cinema, a couple of days later it disappears and ends up in Sky Store. 

It happened recently with The Matrix literally in the last 10 days. Started watching one evening, came back to it the next day...  not there, suddenly only available on Sky Store. 

Happened this week with Gladiator. Two days ago it was free on Cinema, I got some of the way through, came back to it today and it's now only on Store. 

Are Sky monitoring what we're watching and switching from free service to paid hoping we'll pay the additional cost to carry on watching a film we've started or am I just THAT unlucky to have this happen twice in 10 days?

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Hi @KGILL82 

Think you were unlucky .

Bear in mind that Sky Store is the same for all users.

There is not a specific Store for each user.

[KGILL82]

Oh yes I'm aware, I wondered though if they looked at viewing stats across their customer base and acted accordingly? Especially since movies are moving / have moved en masse to other streaming service;  it would make sense to make the existing few they have left make them more money. 

[KGILL82]

As it turns out, Gladiator is still free on Sky Max, but only if you look manually; it will not show up if you search using the voice command function on the remote control, only the Sky Store version of Gladiator will show if you search using voice controls. 

[Ellie_TV]

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@KGILL82 wrote:

As it turns out, Gladiator is still free on Sky Max, but only if you look manually; it will not show up if you search using the voice command function on the remote control, only the Sky Store version of Gladiator will show if you search using voice controls. 

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Gladiator is actually also currently available on ITVX (for free) so it's one of those quirky 'available on multiple streaming platforms' type situations. Streaming rights and broadcast rights change all the time so you need to make sure you check where the content you want to watch is available, because pricing may vary between different providers. Often something that is on Sky Store can be found streaming for free elsewhere. 

[KGILL82]

Yes that's where I ended up going to watch it in the end. 

I check using an app where things are for free or the most competitive rate.

My point is:

If it's on Sky Max for free why's it not showing on a voice search? 

If it's on Sky Max & ITVX for free why is it a paid for movie on Sky Store? 

It doesn't make any sense and gives the impression the "paid for" version is the one they want you to watch.  

Let's say I was someone who didn't check elsewhere (or didn't have the means/ability to), and I used voice control to search Gladiator, only the Store version would appear, meaning there maybe users out there paying for something that is free on another Sky channel. 

I get that the voice search may not pull up movies on ITVX,  but it should pull up the one on Sky Max since it can also search in Netflix, why not the entire channel catalogue? 

[Ellie_TV]

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@KGILL82 wrote:

Yes that's where I ended up going to watch it in the end. 

I check using an app where things are for free or the most competitive rate.

My point is:

If it's on Sky Max for free why's it not showing on a voice search? 

If it's on Sky Max & ITVX for free why is it a paid for movie on Sky Store? 

It doesn't make any sense and gives the impression the "paid for" version is the one they want you to watch.  

Let's say I was someone who didn't check elsewhere (or didn't have the means/ability to), and I used voice control to search Gladiator, only the Store version would appear, meaning there maybe users out there paying for something that is free on another Sky channel. 

I get that the voice search may not pull up movies on ITVX,  but it should pull up the one on Sky Max since it can also search in Netflix, why not the entire channel catalogue? 

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Sky are a business. They need to make money. That's why they'll push potential viewers to the pay option first.

The service Sky provide is designed to make our lives easy, so if we have to pay for something because we didn't spend any time looking for an alternative source, then so be it.