What I think Sky should be rolling out

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JimmyH

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#191215 27-Jan-2016 19:20

There have been discussions in other threads about the increasing competition Sky is facing, and how they will have to sharpen up their customer focus and service offering if they are to retain customers and revenue.

Rather than the insipid new decoders, and uninspiring overhaul of the HDi boxes that they seem to be betting their future on, I think they should have done something more similar to what Sky in the UK are doing, as detailed here.

Sky Q Hands On

2 TB drive, 12 tuner option, proper app integration, and interconnected extender boxes that let two other TVs in the house, a legible interface, and integration with other online video offerings as well as their own. It looks like it makes the decoder more of a flexible home entertainment hub.

I would probably pay for something like that, and stay with Sky, if they offered it.

By comparison, Sky NZ's "new" offering looks tired and at least 5-8 years out of date before its roll-out has even finished.

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Awrrr
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#1480208 27-Jan-2016 19:29

Hasn't Sky NZ always been 5-8 years out of date?

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tdgeek

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#1480216 27-Jan-2016 19:40

Rikkitic:

Hasn't Sky NZ always been 5-8 years out of date?

The rugby, MotoGP, F1, Tenns, etc, that I watch on it are up to date. The other 800,000 aka 50% market share seem to be ok with it.

Content is king, and if what you want is catered for, the STB as compared to streaming is secondary. Turn it on, its there in seconds, it just works as they say

Back on topic, I read the review. Seems a bit meh. The home integration is good, I can see Sky NZ going that way. Multiroom can't be a big revenue earner.

Apps are proprietary, so it looks like probably less than what you get off an old Smart TV?

What do I think Sky can do?

1. Home integration, thats bound to be popular. Free apart from initial hardware purchase.

2. Bring Neon to existing subscribers

3. Allow a streaming option for everything. Cheaper.Use that to transition to a streaming only. (I like the download of the content way they do this)

4. Reduce pricing. Basic and Sport from 100 to 75.

5. Could they add FTA On Demand to the lineup? They have FTA linear.

Satch

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#1480578 28-Jan-2016 11:57

What Sky TV should be doing is breaking up their channel packages so you are able to pay for only what you intend to watch rather than being made to pay for 10's of channels full of crap.

trig42

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#1480585 28-Jan-2016 12:10

What do I want from Sky?

FanPass on SmartTVs and AppleTV. Neon in HD. Prime (freeview) in HD.

Not too worried about the STB, though the latest update made the GUI prettier but much harder to read.

tdgeek

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#1480619 28-Jan-2016 12:37

trig42:

What do I want from Sky?

FanPass on SmartTVs and AppleTV. Neon in HD. Prime (freeview) in HD.

Not too worried about the STB, though the latest update made the GUI prettier but much harder to read.

Apps, yep for sure

tdgeek

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#1480623 28-Jan-2016 12:40

Satch:

What Sky TV should be doing is breaking up their channel packages so you are able to pay for only what you intend to watch rather than being made to pay for 10's of channels full of crap.

There are no channels full of crap. This, and any other service, doesn't cater for you, it caters for everyone.

The ability to break the packages is a very good idea. You would still need to pay the monthly fee that that maintains ARPU though.

Pay the fee as normal, and pick what you want, good idea.

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Satch

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#1480627 28-Jan-2016 12:45

tdgeek: There are no channels full of crap.

Do I detect a Kardashians fan? ;-)

sbiddle

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#1480636 28-Jan-2016 12:58

What I find interesting is that many cool features such are not allowed by the content providers - I know we hear this a lot but I know somebody who was working in programming who gave me a run down on the (what many of us would call draconian) restrictions they have imposed on them. This is all fine, except for the fact US and UK broadcasters and pay TV companies seem to be able to provide services that seemingly break these restrictions.

tdgeek

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#1480638 28-Jan-2016 13:06

Satch:

tdgeek: There are no channels full of crap.

Do I detect a Kardashians fan? ;-)

No, just realistic. For everyone that can't stand E! or cooking TV, or History Channel, there are others that do.

If you have Netflix, do you love every piece on content that is on it?

tdgeek

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#1480640 28-Jan-2016 13:08

Satch:

tdgeek: There are no channels full of crap.

Do I detect a Kardashians fan? ;-)

Oh, and furthermore, if I want to check on the the Kardashians, I'll go to a kiwi news website as it will be the first article featured'.. :-)

andrew027

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#1480641 28-Jan-2016 13:08

That interconnection idea sounds great - I'd be very interested in that. Knowing Sky though, you'd have to pay extra for it every month. I find it crazy you have to do that with multi-room - there should be no cost after a "one-off" for the second decoder.

As for unbundling channels, I think that's been done to death in other threads. We all want it but we won't get it. So I'd settle for the ability to "hide" channels I don't want, so that scrolling through the channels or the guide skips the many channels I'm not interested in.

Edit to add this question: Has Sky ever had "channel hiding" in New Zealand? I used it with Foxtel in Australia (12+ years ago) but can't remember whether the older Sky decoders did it too...

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tdgeek

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#1480643 28-Jan-2016 13:09

sbiddle:

What I find interesting is that many cool features such are not allowed by the content providers - I know we hear this a lot but I know somebody who was working in programming who gave me a run down on the (what many of us would call draconian) restrictions they have imposed on them. This is all fine, except for the fact US and UK broadcasters and pay TV companies seem to be able to provide services that seemingly break these restrictions.

Because they have the rights?

Rikkitic

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#1480703 28-Jan-2016 15:34

The other day I watched the Australia Day awards in Canberra, and later the celebrations in Sydney. The Local Heroes stories were interesting, informative and uplifting. The festivities were joyful and inspirational. They were all about celebrating and enhancing national identity. They could serve as an example for what Waitangi Day could become.

Whatever issues may arise from time to time between Australia and New Zealand, we do have a special connection, historically, culturally, economically, geographically, and politically. What happens in Australia very much affects us here. We are unquestionably both part of the same region.

So why the hell are we prohibited from viewing this kind of content by normal means?

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Handsomedan

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#1480711 28-Jan-2016 15:40

I'd like to be able to Airplay Skygo.

Then I could take my Sky with me when I go on holiday, or use it in the boudoir...

I don't want to pay for Multi-room. I just want to be able to watch what i want to watch, where I want to watch it.

Why should I have to pay for Neon to be able to Airplay??

And why is Movies so expensive? It's cheaper to get Neon and i also get a lot of Soho thrown in. Except it's SD, unintuitive and hard to navigate. But the new Sky is unintuitive and hard to navigate, so go figure...

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vexxxboy

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#1480715 28-Jan-2016 15:58

andrew027:

That interconnection idea sounds great - I'd be very interested in that. Knowing Sky though, you'd have to pay extra for it every month. I find it crazy you have to do that with multi-room - there should be no cost after a "one-off" for the second decoder.

As for unbundling channels, I think that's been done to death in other threads. We all want it but we won't get it. So I'd settle for the ability to "hide" channels I don't want, so that scrolling through the channels or the guide skips the many channels I'm not interested in.

Edit to add this question: Has Sky ever had "channel hiding" in New Zealand? I used it with Foxtel in Australia (12+ years ago) but can't remember whether the older Sky decoders did it too...

there is , it's called Favourites. I have only about 12 channels that i have to flick through at the push of a button. they are the only channels i see.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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