Big drop in Sky subscribers

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#1548844 9-May-2016 18:37

Yabanize:
A chromecast with a good app (like netflix) is pretty easy to teach older people to use

Yep. My Dad is 76, and is well at home with his Chromecast.

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richms

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#1548847 9-May-2016 18:40

Yabanize:

A chromecast with a good app (like netflix) is pretty easy to teach older people to use

You are seriously over estimating the average persons ability to work technology if you think that is a solution.

Sky gives people a simple box that mostly works (when the fonts arent changed to be too hard for them to read on their stuffed old SD TV's) and a place to call when things go wrong with it who will send a minimally clued up "technician" out to re-plug in a video cable or whatever when it stops working if they cannot resolve it over the phone with their stupid to us but needed step by step troubleshooting.

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littleheaven

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#1548854 9-May-2016 19:12

richms:
Next best hope would be if one of the console makers was to make a decent push into media, but that is what microsoft claimed they were doing with the xbox one and it has been ignored by all, and they have ignored outside the US totally in any case.

That's my hope for the new Apple TV - there's an iOS app for almost everything, and with tvOS now being open to developers, I'm hoping it will follow suit, and that anyone with streaming video will want to get on it. It's happening slowly but surely. I'm only missing TVNZ. Fanpass and All4 can AirPlay but an app would be even better. It's almost rendered my little Windows box redundant.

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MikeB4

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#1548855 9-May-2016 19:14

age does not make it difficult to use technology.

Handle9

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#1548859 9-May-2016 19:22

MikeB4:
age does not make it difficult to use technology.

It does often make it harder to learn how to do new things. If you were never technologically literate to begin with learning how to use something like a chromecast can be challenging for the elderly who may be perfectly competent with a remote control.

Bring older doesn't make it impossible but it does make it harder to learn.

MikeB4

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#1548864 9-May-2016 19:35

Handle9:
MikeB4:

age does not make it difficult to use technology.

It does often make it harder to learn how to do new things. If you were never technologically literate to begin with learning how to use something like a chromecast can be challenging for the elderly who may be perfectly competent with a remote control.

Bring older doesn't make it impossible but it does make it harder to learn.

The generations that developed the industry and the devices we love.

Handle9

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#1548867 9-May-2016 19:38

MikeB4:
Handle9:
MikeB4:

age does not make it difficult to use technology.

It does often make it harder to learn how to do new things. If you were never technologically literate to begin with learning how to use something like a chromecast can be challenging for the elderly who may be perfectly competent with a remote control.

Bring older doesn't make it impossible but it does make it harder to learn.

The generations that developed the industry and the devices we love.

Sure. It's not a criticism, just one of those things, just like young people often do risky dumb stuff that older people don't. It's why diversity is do important.

JimmyH

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#1548876 9-May-2016 20:05

tdgeek:

JimmyH:

I would be happy to keep paying the current price, for the current content.

If only they would get rid of the incessant and annoying ad breaks which are now as bad as, and verging on worse, than FTA TV.

I have been muttering about dumping Sky for ages. Redoing my home infrastructure in a couple of weeks, so that I can play lightbox on all the tellys. If that's a success, I will look at getting an unblocker, and finally replacing Sky with a Netflix/Lightbox/Hulu/iPlayer lineup.

Tell us about this, or do you mean ethernet to all rooms?

Nope. I already have ethernet-over-powerline to the rooms that matter, and I'm happy with its performance. All I want to do with the network is add a few more network ports and another WiFi access point to what I have.

I'm talking about:

HTPCs in the bedroom and living room, so I can get Lightbox etc to any telly I want
HTPC and software to record Freeview and strip the commercials to make it watchable
Expanding the storage on my NAS, so I have plenty for my media libraries
Eventually moving to a geo-unblocker for BBC iPlayer and US Netflix on all tellys

I may or may not keep Sky. I'm toying with adding an HD Capture device with an HDCP stripper to the living room HTPC - so that I can record what I want on the HTPC, and automatically strip the incessant and inane commercials, in an attempt to make Sky watchable. If that isn't a success, Sky goes bye bye.

insane

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#1548887 9-May-2016 20:38

Happy to say I've never had Sky, and even though I pay for Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Premier League Pass, PSA Squash TV and a DNS service which helps with BBC iPlayer, I'm still paying ~half the cost of a decent Sky sub per month and have no complaints at all.

radomatic

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#1548907 9-May-2016 21:16

I agree that Chromecast is pretty easy to use, so is Apple TV. But for the average nana or grandad out there, they are not that easy to learn or use. Certainly not when you have had 50-60-70 or more years of doing something in a certain way.

Also doesn't help when things change like interfaces or button layouts or the whole way the an app works. Or its icon.

Then there's the inevitable breakdowns and failures that are all too common with technology, usually followed by a typically unhelpful error message like "Whoops something went wrong..." with an OK button.

I just don't think these services are 100% ready for primetime, mainstream adoption. Particularly not for Sky's key subscriber audience who i would wager skew older (my guess is middle age and older) and to people who are less inclined to want to faff around - they will just want something simple that just works. They are close - just not quite as easy as switching on the TV and pushing the up/down button on the remote.

MikeB4

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#1548913 9-May-2016 21:33

I subscribe to Sky and Netflix NZ. Why Sky? simple content, they simply offer heaps, structured and scheduled. There is seldom outages and a lot of content is HD. Why NetflixNZ, expanded mobile content for travel etc but this content is limited.

Why not other services........?
Freeview, lack of content and quality channels. It started with promise but has been systematically destroyed.
Lightbox, limited content and limited supported devices.
QuickFlix, lots of content but most of the quality content is "premium" and additional cost.
Sky's other services, simple it's rubbish.
Offshore services like Netflix US, I simply cannot be bothered faffing around trying to get this.

BarTender

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#1548914 9-May-2016 21:35

I would wager that less than 2% of the Sky customer base has plugged their MySkys into the internet after the latest upgrade.

I know my mother in law who is an extreme technophobe (just upgraded her Windows 95 Laptop after it died this year) has her MySky box and her DSL connection right behind it. But it never occurred to her to plug it in.

Unfortunately in this country the lowest common denominator for technical ability represents the vast majority of people.

radomatic

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#1548918 9-May-2016 21:39

MikeB4: <snip> content, they simply offer heaps, structured and scheduled. There is seldom outages and a lot of content is HD.
<snip>

Content is king. Content is the only reason to bother with any of these services be they broadcast or streaming or anything really. How easy a service is for nana (or anyone) to use is secondary to the content - if it doesn't have the content nana wants to watch then it will never succeed.

And unfortunately none of the services really have enough of the right content at the moment. And I get the feeling it will be like that for a long time - particularly as new services come online. You think any decent content that might be available could have its rights go to Sky (as in Sky), Sky (as in Neon), Lightbox, Netflix, etc. And who wants to subscribe to all of those just to guarantee access to content?

Eg Lightbox, I want them to do well - but they don't have a huge amount of content (although a lot of what they have is pretty good). Netflix NZ's catalogue is less than amazing - especially when compared to their US catalogue for example.

tdgeek

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#1548936 9-May-2016 22:45

radomatic:

MikeB4: <snip> content, they simply offer heaps, structured and scheduled. There is seldom outages and a lot of content is HD.
<snip>

Content is king. Content is the only reason to bother with any of these services be they broadcast or streaming or anything really. How easy a service is for nana (or anyone) to use is secondary to the content - if it doesn't have the content nana wants to watch then it will never succeed.

And unfortunately none of the services really have enough of the right content at the moment. And I get the feeling it will be like that for a long time - particularly as new services come online. You think any decent content that might be available could have its rights go to Sky (as in Sky), Sky (as in Neon), Lightbox, Netflix, etc. And who wants to subscribe to all of those just to guarantee access to content?

Eg Lightbox, I want them to do well - but they don't have a huge amount of content (although a lot of what they have is pretty good). Netflix NZ's catalogue is less than amazing - especially when compared to their US catalogue for example.

A very long time. Competition brings fragmentation. Thats normal. Otherwise there is no competition. So, we will have more content, but spread over a number of services.

Content is king. You can live with a not all in one box, you can live with cost, but you can't live without the content.

Some will get away with a couple to satisfy most things, others may have 5 services.

I don't agree fully with the older folk inability. Some will not get it. Click once to turn the box on, ATV4 for example, and the apps are looking at you. Scrolling and selecting is smoother and more intuitive than a Sky Remote. Quicker and simpler. The difference will disappear. I can't comment on navigating other devices often mentioned, Fire TV etc.

ockel

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#1548937 9-May-2016 22:45

insane:

Happy to say I've never had Sky, and even though I pay for Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Premier League Pass, PSA Squash TV and a DNS service which helps with BBC iPlayer, I'm still paying ~half the cost of a decent Sky sub per month and have no complaints at all.

So thats USD96x3 plus USD120 for the PSA Squash plus USD60(?) for the DNS and NZD199 for PLP. Total cost about $900/yr or $75/mth. Roughly the average SKY ARPU. Not exactly half a decent Sky sub. But you get the content you want for roughly the same price.

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