Sky drop National Geographic

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Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#3042794 27-Feb-2023 14:06

When I had IHUG TV (was Sky re-sold), only channels I watched were Discovery, History and Cartoon network. Talking to a lot of other Sky users, they were pretty much the same :)

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yitz

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#3042800 27-Feb-2023 14:22

Didn't Air Crash Investigation/Mayday/Air Disasters use to air on Discovery?

Yetti92

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#3042801 27-Feb-2023 14:24

It's no real loss, Nat Geo documentaries will look and sound better on D+ and won't have any ads.

This is the second channel in 2023 to stop broadcasting on Sky. E! stopped their NZ service on sky last month as well. And of course no discount or replacement... because its Sky.

bmr63

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#3042804 27-Feb-2023 14:31

yitz:

Didn't Air Crash Investigation/Mayday/Air Disasters use to air on Discovery?

Not sure about that. Certainly there’s a ACI on National Geographic tonight.

Steve

MikeB4

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#3042821 27-Feb-2023 15:23

I don't wish to to provoke a wrathful response but I do feel we are witnessing the drawn out slow death of Sky TV. In the beginning Sky revolutionised television in Aotearoa but their apparent inability to evolve is resulting in their demise. Even the latest fiasco over their new and obsolete set top boxes is an example of their death throws. Live sport can be done largely via Apps and the rest is duplication and an endless parade of repeats repeating apparently unending.

quickymart

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#3042826 27-Feb-2023 15:33

MikeB4:

I don't wish to to provoke a wrathful response but I do feel we are witnessing the drawn out slow death of Sky TV. In the beginning Sky revolutionised television in Aotearoa but their apparent inability to evolve is resulting in their demise. Even the latest fiasco over their new and obsolete set top boxes is an example of their death throws. Live sport can be done largely via Apps and the rest is duplication and an endless parade of repeats repeating apparently unending.

I think back to the 1990s when they were basically the only game in town for, well, everything on TV that was vaguely good, and they ruled the pay TV market and set the rules.

Fast forward to now and I have a serious query, I wonder what Sky could have done to not end up in the situation they are now? Should they have started doing streaming sooner than they rolled it out? Been more flexible with their channel packages? Reduced subscription charges in some way?

Or is there absolutely nothing that they could have done differently, and this slow decline was inevitable?

GV27

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#3042830 27-Feb-2023 15:39

quickymart:

Fast forward to now and I have a serious query, I wonder what Sky could have done to not end up in the situation they are now? Should they have started doing streaming sooner than they rolled it out? Been more flexible with their channel packages? Reduced subscription charges in some way?

Or is there absolutely nothing that they could have done differently, and this slow decline was inevitable?

Unless we get pick and mix bundles then I'm probably out in the not-too-distant.

Supercars, F1 and Rugby are great but I can get F1 Pro for sod-all, Supercars can be obtained by other means and I'm just not sure I care enough about rugby to let it cost me the extra $700 a year that keeping Sky is probably costing me on a net basis.

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alasta

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#3042831 27-Feb-2023 15:40

quickymart:

I think back to the 1990s when they were basically the only game in town for, well, everything on TV that was vaguely good, and they ruled the pay TV market and set the rules.

Fast forward to now and I have a serious query, I wonder what Sky could have done to not end up in the situation they are now? Should they have started doing streaming sooner than they rolled it out? Been more flexible with their channel packages? Reduced subscription charges in some way?

Or is there absolutely nothing that they could have done differently, and this slow decline was inevitable?

I think they really needed to make Neon their primary product rather than just a reflection of their reluctance towards streaming software. It could have been a polished platform, delivering all of their content including live sport. Those with Apple TVs or a modern app-enabled TV set could simply install the software, while a set-top box with the software pre-installed could be available to those less tech savvy.

Instead, they have tried to keep the bulk of their customer base on an outdated delivery model while half-heartedly offering a basic streaming service to those who really insist on having it. It's not going to work long term.

Handle9

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#3042884 27-Feb-2023 18:21

quickymart:

MikeB4:

I don't wish to to provoke a wrathful response but I do feel we are witnessing the drawn out slow death of Sky TV. In the beginning Sky revolutionised television in Aotearoa but their apparent inability to evolve is resulting in their demise. Even the latest fiasco over their new and obsolete set top boxes is an example of their death throws. Live sport can be done largely via Apps and the rest is duplication and an endless parade of repeats repeating apparently unending.

I think back to the 1990s when they were basically the only game in town for, well, everything on TV that was vaguely good, and they ruled the pay TV market and set the rules.

Fast forward to now and I have a serious query, I wonder what Sky could have done to not end up in the situation they are now? Should they have started doing streaming sooner than they rolled it out? Been more flexible with their channel packages? Reduced subscription charges in some way?

Or is there absolutely nothing that they could have done differently, and this slow decline was inevitable?

There's a fair chunk that they have no influence over. The move to fragmentation and walled gardens (like National Geographic on Disney +) is a global trend which sky has zero influence over and no real ability to mitigate.

What they did do was underinvest. After the PACE boxes and MySky rolled out they effectively stopped putting any meaningful investment into their platforms or technologies. Outside Broadcast, now sold, was another area where they milked the cow until it was dead and then had to sell it's corpse as they couldn't afford to renew the infrastructure.

They likely would have been a smaller, less profitable company than they used to be anyway but they may have had a better chance to survive.

nztim

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#3042894 27-Feb-2023 19:12

Got the same email and don’t care, only have Sky for sport, none of the other stuff interests me

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Wheelbarrow01

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#3042911 27-Feb-2023 20:26

I know it’s by design, but I wish Sky would make it as easy to downgrade packages as it is to upgrade.
I can upgrade in less than a minute online, but I assume I have to sit on hold for hours to get rid of the entertainment package.
The value to me of the entertainment package was borderline with Nat Geo.
With that channel now going the value no longer exists.
I’m not paying $25 a month (or whatever it is) just to watch Discovery Turbo (the only other entertainment package channel I actually watch all the time other than Nat Geo)

Not sure why the experience of others might differ, but I just checked and can access Air Crash Investigation on my sister’s Disney + no problem at all.

indyg

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#3042951 27-Feb-2023 23:31

Back in December I got a Sky Nation survey that had several questions around the possibility of Nat Geo being dropped and how that'd affect my subscription. Didn't matter since I had cancelled the Entertainment package the week before.

fe31nz

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#3042953 28-Feb-2023 01:01

Bravo is running Mayday Air Disaster at the moment - Season 21. So they are not too far behind - Season 23 is the current one, which I think has not aired on NatGeo yet. And Bravo is free-to-air.

GV27

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#3042957 28-Feb-2023 06:20

Wheelbarrow01: I know it’s by design, but I wish Sky would make it as easy to downgrade packages as it is to upgrade.
I can upgrade in less than a minute online, but I assume I have to sit on hold for hours to get rid of the entertainment package.
The value to me of the entertainment package was borderline with Nat Geo.
With that channel now going the value no longer exists.
I’m not paying $25 a month (or whatever it is) just to watch Discovery Turbo (the only other entertainment package channel I actually watch all the time other than Nat Geo)

Not sure why the experience of others might differ, but I just checked and can access Air Crash Investigation on my sister’s Disney + no problem at all.

I literally just want to be able to pick the sports channels, crime + history, probably whatever UKTV is called these days and the news channels. Let me click little squares in the back-end and put together my own custom bundle. I probably only want 20 channels and I'm paying for about six hundred thousand or so that all show re-runs of Outback Opal Hunters which is free on 3 anyway.

quickymart

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#3042998 28-Feb-2023 08:48

That's a bugbear I remember when I used to sell it, people asking "why can't I pick my own channels?" Never had a good answer for it, apart from their response of "oh, this package has our most popular channels!" (Just not Discovery).

Sky's response was usually something along the lines of "oh but once you got all those channels you want, you'd be paying for the rest anyway!" or some equally weak excuse. Hell, when I disconnected Sky years ago it was even suggested as a response to "what would you like to see about Sky to improve our services?" I guess all the people that ticked "pick my own channels" didn't amount to much.

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