nathan: I remember when Sky originally first launched in NZ, with no ads,

I remember Goodnight Kiwi.

Things change though.

All the comments about how good it was 15+ years ago are a bit nuts, when minwage was $9 an hour(now almost double that) and SKY is for most customers today is cheaper than it was back then. 

Indeed, I remember selling (UHF) Sky back in 1995-1996 and for Movies, Sports and Orange it was around $50 per month. But I reckon the quality was better back then - they had far less channels so they had to be quite selective about what they showed. The ads between movies (and during shows on Orange) were still there though.

So, as a non-subscriber, and vocal critic, this week I had unfettered access to Sky for 3 days.

Day one, we tried to watch a movie on Jones and gave up due to never-ending self promotion adverts (refer opening post).

So what else? I would have liked to watch the boxing day test for the next two days, but we all know why I skipped that particular pleasure!

So the only thing I found on Sky, and enjoyed, was the 2020 world darts championship. It was great, and it was ad free. If Sky had dared throw in one self promotion advert, I would have run a mile given I was still suffering post traumatic stress syndrome from the previous night bombardment on Jones.

So not a lot to tempt me back. Now back home, and safe to say, still a confirmed non-subscriber.

loceff13:

 

All the comments about how good it was 15+ years ago are a bit nuts, when minwage was $9 an hour(now almost double that) and SKY is for most customers today is cheaper than it was back then. 

 

Unfortunately that doesn’t mean it’s better now or better value now.

eracode:

 

Apsattv:

 

What about if you watch via sky on demand? do those shows still have the adverts?

 

 

TVNZOD has ads but way fewer ads than watching live - and TVNZOD via Freeview has even less than that (or more - not sure which way round - but there is a difference with the Freeview version). 

 

Doesn't really answer my question, I guess I should finally bother to put the wifi password into my Sky receiver and look for myself. But was trying to avoid that as one less "complicated" tv thingy for an elderly family member to get confused with

eracode:

 

loceff13:

 

All the comments about how good it was 15+ years ago are a bit nuts, when minwage was $9 an hour(now almost double that) and SKY is for most customers today is cheaper than it was back then. 

 

 

Unfortunately that doesn’t mean it’s better now or better value now.

 

I think people forget it was a pretty poor experience back then too, with the exception of sports.

loceff13:

 

eracode:

 

loceff13:

 

All the comments about how good it was 15+ years ago are a bit nuts, when minwage was $9 an hour(now almost double that) and SKY is for most customers today is cheaper than it was back then. 

 

 

Unfortunately that doesn’t mean it’s better now or better value now.

 

 

I think people forget it was a pretty poor experience back then too, with the exception of sports.

 

I think it really was a very good experience back then - compared to what was available then. It’s just that the TV world has moved-on and changed dramatically - and Sky hasn’t. That’s why people flocked to it in its sunrise years and are fleeing from it in its sunset years.

eracode:

 

loceff13:

 

eracode:

 

loceff13:

 

All the comments about how good it was 15+ years ago are a bit nuts, when minwage was $9 an hour(now almost double that) and SKY is for most customers today is cheaper than it was back then. 

 

 

Unfortunately that doesn’t mean it’s better now or better value now.

 

 

I think people forget it was a pretty poor experience back then too, with the exception of sports.

 

 

I think it really was a very good experience back then - compared to what was available then. It’s just that the TV world has moved-on and changed dramatically - and Sky hasn’t. That’s why people flocked to it in its sunrise years and are fleeing from it in its sunset years.

 

But are they fleeing from it? Since the Netflix era, and that is a few years ago, they dropped from over 800,000 to over 700,000, 1/8  But we read in the media every 8 minutes that they are bleeding subscribers

A drop is still a drop - it's not like their subscriber numbers are growing year on year (like I remember they used to). Most recent (Herald) article I can find that had a graph of numbers was this:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12205399

quickymart:

 

A drop is still a drop - it's not like their subscriber numbers are growing year on year (like I remember they used to). Most recent (Herald) article I can find that had a graph of numbers was this:

 

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12205399

 

 

 

Correct, its a drop, but its not the rhetoric thats always used. It used to be a big company, but that drop, has removed most of the profits, so they need to restructure to a smaller company and continue to drop expenses, such as brick and mortar. 

What I think looks bad (and this is just my opinion) where they announce their subscriber numbers have dropped...then the next day - or even a few hours later - "Sky announces they are raising their prices". It just looks really poor; it reads like the existing ones have to pay more to make up for the ones who left.

quickymart:

 

What I think looks bad (and this is just my opinion) where they announce their subscriber numbers have dropped...then the next day - or even a few hours later - "Sky announces they are raising their prices". It just looks really poor; it reads like the existing ones have to pay more to make up for the ones who left.

 

Ive never seen that at all. All companies raise prices annually, inflation. Telco's etc, everybody. Everyone complains, except they don't complain at annual salary review time.

If you check the Sky deals thread its wanted. The other thread which covers what Sky are doing, you see people now keeping it as there is more value. The subscriber level will bottom out, and where that ends up will determine what Sky does. I expect they will do a share buyback, to reduce the size of its capital, to align that with its new and lower profit

Aside from that, get it if you like it, don't get it if you don't

 

Amazon Prime does the same. A pre-roll ad about some garbage "amazon original" before your show is played.

 

This is why torrents and Plex still win in our house.

 

Its hardly the same, Amazon plays the one short pre-promotion at the beginning of a program then none whatsoever during the program.

tdgeek:

 

quickymart:

 

What I think looks bad (and this is just my opinion) where they announce their subscriber numbers have dropped...then the next day - or even a few hours later - "Sky announces they are raising their prices". It just looks really poor; it reads like the existing ones have to pay more to make up for the ones who left.

 

 

Ive never seen that at all. All companies raise prices annually, inflation. Telco's etc, everybody. Everyone complains, except they don't complain at annual salary review time.

 

Aside from that, get it if you like it, don't get it if you don't

 

I've seen it happen a bit lately. Note that I don't have Sky anymore - it no longer made sense for me, value-wise; I only watched about 6 channels but had to pay for the 100-odd others I never watched.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12205591