Neon going from mediocre to piss poor

Forums › Sky, Neon, Lightbox › Neon going from mediocre to piss poor

sen8or

1897 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1402

#311006 6-Dec-2023 10:22

Got an email from Neon today, increasing prices, okay, not great but everything is getting more expensive so I can deal with that. In addition to increasing prices, they are also introducing advertising. A basic plan has ads before shows / movies and when pausing, or a standard plan has ads during pause only (which stop when you un-pause).

No mention of moving into the 21st century with 4k content, no mention of moving even into the 20th century with anything other than 2.0 sound.

Simply not good enough

1 | 2

6891 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3365

Trusted

Subscriber

#3168724 6-Dec-2023 10:39

Wow, paying to have advertising shoved down your throat is really bad. I'm glad I cancelled my subscription a long time ago.

morphyoss

24 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 12

#3168727 6-Dec-2023 10:43

Unreal that they still refuse to offer 4k. They have some good content, but seems like the quality of the service is getting worse, but the price is going up.

outdoorsnz

694 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 303

ID Verified

#3168728 6-Dec-2023 10:47

That doesn't inspire me much to re-subscribe in the future! Bugger that.

reven

3748 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 874

Trusted

#3168731 6-Dec-2023 10:56

alasta:

Wow, paying to have advertising shoved down your throat is really bad. I'm glad I cancelled my subscription a long time ago.

to be fair, sky have been doing this for years.

but no, i wont subscribe to something that makes me pay and has ads. free, and pay to remove ads (eg youtube), then sure. i subscribe to youtube premium.

Spanners163

9 posts

Wannabe Geek
+1 received by user: 17

#3168732 6-Dec-2023 10:59

I'm yet to be convinced that the current CEO hasn't had a mind meld with the OG CEO John.

The CEO between them dragged Sky kicking and screaming into about 2013. The current CEO is attempting to roll things back to 2005. The next step will be a plan that only offers content 4:3 to save on the bandwith of the edges of the screen.

Firesphere

23 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 30

#3168733 6-Dec-2023 11:00

As long as the ads don't interfere with my watching, I don't actually mind them that much.

Before/after a show/movie/etc., that's a dealbreaker for me, because it forces me to wait for something I want to watch or do.

If I pause, and they put on ads, I don't care much about that, I auto-mute when pausing anyway, and I'm pausing because I'm not going to be looking at the screen.

If I can't resume immediately, but have to wait for an ad to finish, then I'm back at the first situation, where I'm forced to wait for something I don't want to wait for, and I'll get cross again

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

Reanalyse

398 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 311

#3168789 6-Dec-2023 11:26

Just cancelled my subscription, only thing I really watched was John Oliver

sxz

761 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 194

#3168792 6-Dec-2023 11:45

And no windows app is a real pain. No app for my panasonic telly.

openmedia

3449 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 878

Trusted

#3168805 6-Dec-2023 12:40

They should just combine Neon and SkyGo into a single service.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

Groucho

542 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 217

#3168855 6-Dec-2023 12:56

Should have anticipated there being a catch for them taking months to fix their Android TV app to be responsive... again.

Looking at their post at https://www.neontv.co.nz/changes-2024 other than price there's stuff all difference between the 'Basic with Ads' and Standard plans except you pay for no ads. I don't really care about their 'on-pause' ads, Netflix already do this with self promotion and if you pause it generally means you're not watching. Credit for not interrupting movies to show ads on the Basic with Ads plan.

evnafets

567 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 269

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3168865 6-Dec-2023 13:23

Credit for not interrupting movies to show ads on the Basic with Ads plan.

The pessimist in me says that they would if they could, but their current rights don't allow them to so

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

Chills

175 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 99

Subscriber

#3168867 6-Dec-2023 13:40

Just canceled my plan after receiving the email. Amazon Prime is unfortunately the best place to watch movies or shows for me now.

Earbanean

1110 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 377

#3168869 6-Dec-2023 13:58

Just use a geo-unblocker and get Max (formerly HBO Max). Better content, sound, picture resolution,...

ezbee

2657 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3099

#3168876 6-Dec-2023 14:09

Does Australia get a better streaming deal from vendors?

Or do they put NZ and Aussie in the same cash cow market, income delta not worth fighting over?

Rushmere

359 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 188

#3168878 6-Dec-2023 14:17

Earbanean:

Just use a geo-unblocker and get Max (formerly HBO Max). Better content, sound, picture resolution,...

I've been very tempted by HBO Max. They did say over a year ago that they were planning on launching in NZ, but I haven't seen any updates on this for a while.

Do you have any issues with payment, i.e. do they accept a NZ credit card?

1 | 2