sky rant

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234 posts

Master Geek

#1113507 22-Aug-2014 15:46

Larger population generally means larger revenue base. It helps attract new entrants/competition
Only competition drives decent innovation/development

I agree Sky's monopoly is crap, because they are always doing only the minimum. But, they are doing the minimum: just enough to keep the majority happy.

The offering in the last 5 years has actually become decent by my standards: MySky is a great service, isky was finally done well enough, more sports channels to accommodate overlapping live events, and HD where it counts for me: on all the sport channels.

What sucks about it is that it is alltogether over-priced. All the add-ons add up to way too much.
And WhoTF WANTS SKY BASIC? ahhhh, just give us a pick n mix choice (pretty much just sport for me)

My final point is that since premier league pass has come in, I see an alternative nightmare future where sports (or any content) are spread across multiple providers and you actually end up having to pay more through multiple cheaper subscriptions than you do in the current monopoly scenario... (e.g. 2 or 3 x$70 instead of 1x $100)

Status quo

manaia

272 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1113531 22-Aug-2014 16:11

old3eyes:
Spyware: Article in NZ Herald today at least shows that Sky is pointed in the right direction, $100 million over 3 years to replace the decoders is the first step toward modern infrastructure and more HD channels.

Wonder if that means they're goin to drop MPEG2 and go 100% to MPEG4??

Yes, that would be correct.

Apsattv

2390 posts

Uber Geek

#1113875 23-Aug-2014 05:39

Sky is also investing $20 million to enable My Sky customers to connect to 'video on demand' services through the internet from January and in March it will start a three-year $100 million project to replace its 460,000 digital decoder boxes, which are at least eight years old. As well as enabling internet access to 'video on demand' services, the new boxes will be able to compress more information, allowing the company to access double the satellite bandwidth for no extra cost.

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
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#1113877 23-Aug-2014 05:54

Apsattv: Sky is also investing $20 million to enable My Sky customers to connect to 'video on demand' services through the internet from January and in March it will start a three-year $100 million project to replace its 460,000 digital decoder boxes, which are at least eight years old. As well as enabling internet access to 'video on demand' services, the new boxes will be able to compress more information, allowing the company to access double the satellite bandwidth for no extra cost.

I agree with most of the anti-Sky sentiment on here and the views about its monopolistic position - but what you are indicating above ain't all bad. Hopefully a lot of the extra bandwidth will go into more HD stuff.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

mattbush

784 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1114972 25-Aug-2014 10:51

In contrast..aussies Foxtel

Foxtel Announcement

old3eyes

9120 posts

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#1114976 25-Aug-2014 10:54

mattbush: In contrast..aussies Foxtel

Foxtel Announcement

"Foxtel is preparing to drop the price of its premium pay television service below the $100 mark to counter cheaper competition in pay TV."

Won't happen here as no competition.

Regards,

Old3eyes

joshhill96

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#1115010 25-Aug-2014 11:30

eracode:
Apsattv: Sky is also investing $20 million to enable My Sky customers to connect to 'video on demand' services through the internet from January and in March it will start a three-year $100 million project to replace its 460,000 digital decoder boxes, which are at least eight years old. As well as enabling internet access to 'video on demand' services, the new boxes will be able to compress more information, allowing the company to access double the satellite bandwidth for no extra cost.

I agree with most of the anti-Sky sentiment on here and the views about its monopolistic position - but what you are indicating above ain't all bad. Hopefully a lot of the extra bandwidth will go into more HD stuff.

SKY has just announced, their new SCI-FI channel "The Zone" will be in HD, the first channel in the basic package (excluding FTA) to be in High Definition.
http://www.throng.co.nz/2014/08/good-news-sci-fi-fans-zone-will-broadcast-hd/

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old3eyes

9120 posts

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#1115066 25-Aug-2014 12:32

Guess they'll be hoping for a lot of MySky upgrades..

Regards,

Old3eyes

JarrodM

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1115072 25-Aug-2014 12:38

joshhill96:
eracode:
Apsattv: Sky is also investing $20 million to enable My Sky customers to connect to 'video on demand' services through the internet from January and in March it will start a three-year $100 million project to replace its 460,000 digital decoder boxes, which are at least eight years old. As well as enabling internet access to 'video on demand' services, the new boxes will be able to compress more information, allowing the company to access double the satellite bandwidth for no extra cost.

I agree with most of the anti-Sky sentiment on here and the views about its monopolistic position - but what you are indicating above ain't all bad. Hopefully a lot of the extra bandwidth will go into more HD stuff.

SKY has just announced, their new SCI-FI channel "The Zone" will be in HD, the first channel in the basic package (excluding FTA) to be in High Definition.
http://www.throng.co.nz/2014/08/good-news-sci-fi-fans-zone-will-broadcast-hd/

still need the hd ticket though

old3eyes

9120 posts

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#1115166 25-Aug-2014 14:19

JarrodM:
joshhill96:
eracode:
Apsattv: Sky is also investing $20 million to enable My Sky customers to connect to 'video on demand' services through the internet from January and in March it will start a three-year $100 million project to replace its 460,000 digital decoder boxes, which are at least eight years old. As well as enabling internet access to 'video on demand' services, the new boxes will be able to compress more information, allowing the company to access double the satellite bandwidth for no extra cost.

I agree with most of the anti-Sky sentiment on here and the views about its monopolistic position - but what you are indicating above ain't all bad. Hopefully a lot of the extra bandwidth will go into more HD stuff.

SKY has just announced, their new SCI-FI channel "The Zone" will be in HD, the first channel in the basic package (excluding FTA) to be in High Definition.
http://www.throng.co.nz/2014/08/good-news-sci-fi-fans-zone-will-broadcast-hd/

still need the hd ticket though

That's what I was wondering . Another $25 / month to watch HD. How many other networks charge for this . I know some do for the DVR but to watch in HD??

Regards,

Old3eyes

Benoire

2799 posts

Uber Geek

#1115178 25-Aug-2014 14:23

Sky UK never charged for the HD decoder as you had to purchase it from them, or get the Sky+ box for free... They did, at the time I had a sub, charge for HD channels at £10 per month, so not far off the HDi and HD ticket.

DickDastardly

227 posts

Master Geek

#1115192 25-Aug-2014 14:40

Benoire: Sky UK never charged for the HD decoder as you had to purchase it from them, or get the Sky+ box for free... They did, at the time I had a sub, charge for HD channels at £10 per month, so not far off the HDi and HD ticket.

Agreed - the HD box was yours and the HD was thrown in for free in the UK. If you wanted HD sport and movies then of course these were going to be a premium. This whole Zone in HD thing?

Isn’t this compressed HD? an interesting story floating around (and Facebook comments) about Sky NZ giving compressed HD.....while I congratulate Sky on launching a new HD channel and hopefully after they replace these vintage decoders more HD channels will follow, I wish they would provide a proper HD service....if your gonna do it....do it properly....customers can see through these launches and Sky "gestures" these days, are a lot more tech savvy and understand if it smells like a kipper....it probably is a kipper!

I don't want no sugar in it - thank you very much

nigelj

856 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1115354 25-Aug-2014 16:56

DickDastardly:
Benoire: Sky UK never charged for the HD decoder as you had to purchase it from them, or get the Sky+ box for free... They did, at the time I had a sub, charge for HD channels at £10 per month, so not far off the HDi and HD ticket.

Agreed - the HD box was yours and the HD was thrown in for free in the UK. If you wanted HD sport and movies then of course these were going to be a premium. This whole Zone in HD thing?

Isn’t this compressed HD? an interesting story floating around (and Facebook comments) about Sky NZ giving compressed HD.....while I congratulate Sky on launching a new HD channel and hopefully after they replace these vintage decoders more HD channels will follow, I wish they would provide a proper HD service....if your gonna do it....do it properly....customers can see through these launches and Sky "gestures" these days, are a lot more tech savvy and understand if it smells like a kipper....it probably is a kipper!

Yeah, that is actually a problem, since the definition for "High Definition" was never standardized. Video quality doesn't come into the general definitions so you could provide 'HD content' that looks like crap and just say "well it's the right size". Of course, you risk your customers leaving you (or never buying content you produce again) if you do that.

Really, we need a term like HQHD or something that specifies a required quality, and shame the content producers/distributors to meet that (next minute, HQHD ticket an extra $15 on top of HD ticket)

Benoire

2799 posts

Uber Geek

#1115389 25-Aug-2014 17:48

I don't know if the HD definition covered bitrate but I do know that HD is 720p or higher and Full HD is 1080p or higher. At 1080 x 1440 this stream can still be considered to be HD. I haven't looked at it on my screen but a 1080p Plasma cannot operate so well out of its native resolution so it will be interesting to see how squished it may be.

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
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#1117011 28-Aug-2014 08:28

This week we have had to change our credit card number - which is a PITA because you need to contact all suppliers etc and advise them of the new card number. I had 12 suppliers to advise (utilities, Netflix, newspaper, Amazon etc) and eleven of them I was able to complete either on-line or with a quick phone call. But not Sky. No - they require a piece of paper to be snail-mailed to you, completed and snail-mailed back. Sure are not a techy, customer-oriented organisation.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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