prevaljo:

 

There's an article in the Sunday Star Times this morning that says that the new Sky box to replace the Vodafone TV box won't be expected before spring.  Which spring (southern or northern) and which year wasn't made clear.  I wouldn't hold my breath for anything before 2023.

 

I guess this is the article you're referring to?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/129270769/sky-admits-customer-service-falling-short-as-covid-and-tight-labour-market-bite

This is the worrying bit:

Sky said in an update to customers that a new Sky box that would support 4K viewing, internet-TV apps and voice commands was not likely to be available until “spring”, due to disruptions to the global supply chain “and in particular chipset shortages”.

Edited to say I've also just found the update to Sky shareholders which says "there will be a short delay to delivering the first of the new Sky Boxes into customer homes, from the originally planned ‘middle of the year’ to spring of 2022".

Glorynz: Humph…why is everything so sloooooow in this country!

Bottom of the world, small population and all the other homilies that regularly get trotted out, covid, supply chain issues, shortage of staff, chip shortage..

Rushmere:

 

prevaljo:

 

There's an article in the Sunday Star Times this morning that says that the new Sky box to replace the Vodafone TV box won't be expected before spring.  Which spring (southern or northern) and which year wasn't made clear.  I wouldn't hold my breath for anything before 2023.

 

 

I guess this is the article you're referring to?

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/129270769/sky-admits-customer-service-falling-short-as-covid-and-tight-labour-market-bite

 

This is the worrying bit:

 

Sky said in an update to customers that a new Sky box that would support 4K viewing, internet-TV apps and voice commands was not likely to be available until “spring”, due to disruptions to the global supply chain “and in particular chipset shortages”.

 

Edited to say I've also just found the update to Sky shareholders which says "there will be a short delay to delivering the first of the new Sky Boxes into customer homes, from the originally planned ‘middle of the year’ to spring of 2022".

 

This pretty much means that there will be a void in service from the Voda shutdown to the point that Sky can deliver significant volumes of product to meet demand.  I suspect that if customers are "deprived" of the ease of use features of a VTV box there will be a risk that Sky will lose them as customers as they will find alternatives or that they didn't really need Sky after all.

There may not necessarily be a “void in service” - or if there is, it may be short and our mileages may vary. VF have said VTV will run until the end of Sept - and after that it will run on for a while but just not be supported. Closedown will be progressive and not everyone will lose it at the same time 

Sky have said “spring” which is Sept > November.

Not at all trying to defend Sky (who I have little time for) - but just trying to be realistic and positive/optimistic.

eracode:

 

There may not necessarily be a “void in service” - or if there is, it may be short and our mileages may vary. VF have said VTV will run until the end of Sept - and after that it will run on for a while but just not be supported. Closedown will be progressive and not everyone will lose it at the same time 

 

Sky have said “spring” which is Sept > November.

 

Not at all trying to defend Sky (who I have little time for) - but just trying to be realistic and positive/optimistic.

 

The question will be, Will VF stop charging for Sky in August (ready for the Sept closure?) Billing is a month in advance so there is some expectation that you'll have service while they continue to charge.

Andib:

 

eracode:

 

There may not necessarily be a “void in service” - or if there is, it may be short and our mileages may vary. VF have said VTV will run until the end of Sept - and after that it will run on for a while but just not be supported. Closedown will be progressive and not everyone will lose it at the same time 

 

Sky have said “spring” which is Sept > November.

 

Not at all trying to defend Sky (who I have little time for) - but just trying to be realistic and positive/optimistic.

 

 

The question will be, Will VF stop charging for Sky in August (ready for the Sept closure?) Billing is a month in advance so there is some expectation that you'll have service while they continue to charge.

 

VF have broken out the Sky component already and are billing only the VF services, broadband and phone if you have one.  The Sky component is currently bring billed by Sky.  So there is no issue over this element.  In terms of the optimistic/positive comments above, September is 7 weeks away, end of September is say another 4 after that.  If you have been involved in any hardware/software rollouts you will be aware that pretty much everything takes longer than the plan, even using Prince 2.  I don't think it's realistic to expect Sky and any sub contractors they have access to, will be able to roll new devices out before next year.  I'll be happy to be proved wrong. 

Of course they may just be rebranding a Google TV box or equivalent which will remove any significant software component, but sourcing large numbers of units and installing them will be difficult unless they have already been landed and are sat in a warehouse somewhere.

Meh. I'm just going to give my Skybox back. It's an expense at the moment I don't really need at there'll be better deals on the table when the new product launches. Money is tighter than it was and I can get most of my non-sport content from Disney+ anyway. 

prevaljo:

 

VF have broken out the Sky component already and are billing only the VF services, broadband and phone if you have one.  The Sky component is currently bring billed by Sky.  So there is no issue over this element. 

 

The point remains that the service is still via the VF box even though the billing is from Sky. So there is still expectation that service remains whilst paying for it. If the new box isn't ready and my VFTV stops working, I would still expect there to be some sort of solution offered if I'm being charged for the full month.

prevaljo:

 

VF have broken out the Sky component already and are billing only the VF services, broadband and phone if you have one.  The Sky component is currently bring billed by Sky. 

 

Nothing has changed with my billing for Sky, I'm still being billed by Vodafone.

Once this decoder is launched, will they also add an AppleTV app fro SkyTV?

So people have a choice of using their own AppleTV box or Skys Android Box?

Eitsop:

Once this decoder is launched, will they also add an AppleTV app fro SkyTV?

So people have a choice of using their own AppleTV box or Skys Android Box?

siva992:

Eitsop:

 

Once this decoder is launched, will they also add an AppleTV app fro SkyTV?

 

So people have a choice of using their own AppleTV box or Skys Android Box?

 

When Sky's Android TV box is launched, you can install the Apple TV+ app from the Google Play store on your Sky Android TV box.

How can you say that with such certainty? Are you surmising? You say ‘can’ but do you mean “might be able to”?

Eitsop: My Vodafone tv due to expire. And I have an Apple TV already, so I was hoping to get sky broadband and use my appletv to run a skytv app

You're dreaming mate.