Spark sold Lightbox to SKY

Forums › Sky, Neon, Lightbox › Spark sold Lightbox to SKY

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#2388949 9-Jan-2020 11:23

Not sure I'm offering anything new here - just my personal perspective...

I'm one of the many that has LightBox free as part of my Spark unlimited broadband package. I actually quite like it and have watched a lot of stuff I've really enjoyed - mainly UK and Scandinavian TV shows. I also pay separately for Netflix, Spark Sport and Sky TV. I've been planning to drop Sky for a while and will do that soon, as I'm paying a fortune for it and not getting my money's worth. I used to watch a lot of sport (and will miss Champions League football), but I just don't have enough time any more. I often record shows in my planner then delete them because I don't get around to watching them.

I'd be happy to pay for "NeonBox", provided: the content included existing LightBox and NEON content (don't drop that UK and Scandi stuff that's not on Sky); the platform was good (TBH I'd be happy if they just added NEON content to the existing LightBox platform); and the price was reasonable (say, comparable with Netflix, give or take a few dollars). Presuming you wouldn't have to be a Sky subscriber (like you don't have to be now for NEON) this would make cancelling my Sky subscription a no-brainer.

So there's the problem for Sky. Why offer me a (say) $20/month service so I can cancel my $104/month service?

networkn

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#2388951 9-Jan-2020 11:27

andrew027:

So there's the problem for Sky. Why offer me a (say) $20/month service so I can cancel my $104/month service?

Because, as you already stated, you aren't going to pay $104 a month anyways.

andrew027

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#2389060 9-Jan-2020 14:09

networkn: Because, as you already stated, you aren't going to pay $104 a month anyways.

Sounds like an admission of defeat on Sky's part...

networkn

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#2389062 9-Jan-2020 14:16

andrew027:

networkn: Because, as you already stated, you aren't going to pay $104 a month anyways.

Sounds like an admission of defeat on Sky's part...

Huh?

andrew027

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#2389063 9-Jan-2020 14:20

networkn: Huh?

...that they can't fix the subscriber service to stop people leaving.

tdgeek

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#2389068 9-Jan-2020 14:25

andrew027:

networkn: Huh?

...that they can't fix the subscriber service to stop people leaving.

You've lost me, you are treating the $20 "NeonBox" service as equivalent to Sky's multitude of channels, and sport, and MySky, and saying they need to fix the subscriber service?

andrew027

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#2389078 9-Jan-2020 15:05

tdgeek: You've lost me, you are treating the $20 "NeonBox" service as equivalent to Sky's multitude of channels, and sport, and MySky, and saying they need to fix the subscriber service?

Not an equivalent, no. An alternative, maybe.

Apologies if I have misinterpreted a previous reply or not accurately represented my thoughts in this thread. I (like many people are, or already have) am looking at cancelling my Sky subscription. There have been many threads on GZ over the years with people outlining the problems with the Sky model - price, channel bundling, the delivery platform, to name a few. For me, Sport has always been the main reason to stay with Sky, but now some of the sports I want to watch most are on Spark Sport, and I don't have time to watch so much sport anyway. It seems like the right time to quit.

I understand it makes business sense for Sky to try to pick up subscribers for a low-cost NeonBox offering, but the point I was trying to make is: wouldn't it better serve their interest to address some of the issues people have been complaining about with the main Sky subscription service to hold onto as many $100+/month subscribers as possible? It seems like NeonBox makes it easier for people to leave.

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networkn

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#2389110 9-Jan-2020 15:37

andrew027:

I understand it makes business sense for Sky to try to pick up subscribers for a low-cost NeonBox offering, but the point I was trying to make is: wouldn't it better serve their interest to address some of the issues people have been complaining about with the main Sky subscription service to hold onto as many $100+/month subscribers as possible? It seems like NeonBox makes it easier for people to leave.

If you have read the threads you refer to and ignored the people who irrationally hate Sky just cause, and look at the actual discussions being had, the reasons for the "problems" which aren't really as big of problems as you indicate have been talked about a lot.

Sky isn't making massive profits, dropping the price wouldn't really be an option. They aren't "ripping" people off as is often claimed.

Your decision to leave is absolutely fine if the product no longer meets your needs, no-one expects anyone to keep using a service they aren't getting value from, but there are still significant numbers of people for whom Sky still makes sense.

I think the issue is, that you are comparing apples with oranges. For YOU Neon might be comparable, but for a lot of people, it wouldn't be.

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#2389135 9-Jan-2020 16:40

I wonder whether Sky's reluctance to make Neon available on Apple TV is strategic, or just a lack of investment.

I am personally quite enjoying my Lightbox trial but, after my ill-fated experiment with Vodafone TV, I am now insistent that Apple TV will be my one and only source for TV going forward. If Sky kill off or neglect the Apple TV app then it's bye-bye Lightbox for me.

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#2389203 9-Jan-2020 18:41

alasta:

I wonder whether Sky's reluctance to make Neon available on Apple TV is strategic, or just a lack of investment.

I am personally quite enjoying my Lightbox trial but, after my ill-fated experiment with Vodafone TV, I am now insistent that Apple TV will be my one and only source for TV going forward. If Sky kill off or neglect the Apple TV app then it's bye-bye Lightbox for me.

From what I gather, LB is a better experience than Neon, and the anecdotal feedback here is Neon will be joined to LB. But given the positive response martin Bennet has made, I agree, Neon (and everything) should be on ATV4. I would add that while the announcement of Sky buying LB is new, its likely that the discussions between them are not, hence Neon being left untouched. Why upscale Neon when they may have been yakking about LB ages ago? Thats my anecdotal opinion.

Tetra

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#2411632 2-Feb-2020 18:10

Is the Lightbox platform likely to merge with Neon in this case? Lightbox wasn't exactly the easiest to use, but I'll be pretty upset if I lose captions on even more shows 😓 I'd be happy to merge the two subscriptions if it weren't for encountering more inaccessible media.

sen8or

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#2411872 3-Feb-2020 12:14

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12305435

So it says it plans to merge lightbox with Neon. I think this would make for an interesting merger but please -

Make sure it has a working AppleTV app, 1080p HD and 5.1 sound as a minimum, 4k would be a nice to have but not a deal killer, although with 4k TVs now being pretty much the default resolution of TVs sold at retail, company's must surely be having to think about video quality.

Lightbox has been on apple tv for a long time now, this would be a shame to lose. I don't pay for lightbox separately and have only had Neon on 12 months free when Vodafone were running a promo, but if I didn't go backwards in terms of quality of experience from the digital service I parallel import then I'd happily subscribe to neonbox / lightneon

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#2411876 3-Feb-2020 12:30

Agree. No more then we already knew/know, but if the combined offering is well priced, as I get LB free, and I assume Id get a cheaper price, then I'll subscribe. Bit more choice, but must have ATV4 app, yes.

steve2222

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#2411877 3-Feb-2020 12:35

Must have proper Android TV app (ie leanback launcher) like the beta one Lightbox already has.

Linuxluver

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#2411932 3-Feb-2020 15:21

I have Lightbox as an app on my Smart TV and in my Dish TV Android TV.

There's no Neon on either platform. That's a deal breaker.

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