SteveON: Is that a joke? I can get 200 for free in the uk!

Buzz Bumble:
With the right equipment and a big enough dish, you can apparently get a lot more free channels here too, by picking up Australian ones for example.

JimmyH: I don't think set top boxes are a dead technology.

In terms of Pay TV something like half of NZ households have a Sky STB, and I doubt that will fall dramatically any time soon. However, for Igloo, part of the issue was they launched late with a poor box (no recording capability, one tuner) offering a poor channel line up. Unlikely to interest those who already had Sky (as most won't want to drop sport etc and downgrade that far), and not to interest those not already paying for pay TV.

TiVo is a different story. While it's not the best on the market now, at the time it launched and for about 12 months afterwards it was. When it launched there was no other good recording box and, with the digital switch-over building momentum, it should have owned the market. The trouble wasn't the product or the price (after it had fallen a bit) - it was the marketing and retail channel choice, both of which were inexplicably dreadful.

To launch a new pay TV box now the issue isn't just launching a box. Most of the people willing to pay decent money probably already have Sky. So they have to be persuaded to either change, or have two STBs/subscriptions - both of which are a harder sell.

mattwnz:

JimmyH: I don't think set top boxes are a dead technology.

In terms of Pay TV something like half of NZ households have a Sky STB, and I doubt that will fall dramatically any time soon. However, for Igloo, part of the issue was they launched late with a poor box (no recording capability, one tuner) offering a poor channel line up. Unlikely to interest those who already had Sky (as most won't want to drop sport etc and downgrade that far), and not to interest those not already paying for pay TV.

TiVo is a different story. While it's not the best on the market now, at the time it launched and for about 12 months afterwards it was. When it launched there was no other good recording box and, with the digital switch-over building momentum, it should have owned the market. The trouble wasn't the product or the price (after it had fallen a bit) - it was the marketing and retail channel choice, both of which were inexplicably dreadful.

To launch a new pay TV box now the issue isn't just launching a box. Most of the people willing to pay decent money probably already have Sky. So they have to be persuaded to either change, or have two STBs/subscriptions - both of which are a harder sell.

They are a dead technology in terms, that people don't want another box. Instead these days the same content can be delivered via an app in an existing device such as a TV or xbox over the internet.  This is the reason why telecoms new service isn't going to have a set top box, nor has quickflix, you just get your content delivered via an app. Set top boxes are expensive to produce and hardware like that fails over time.  Sky are different as they already have that device in peoples homes, and theirs is also a pvr, so serves another purpose apart from just content delivery. But in terms of streaming content, the set top box is basically dead. 

SteveON: I just had a look at igloo $24.94/mo for another 7-8 channels. Is that a joke? I can get 200 for free in the uk!