What is the future of Sky in the UK? With Sky losing rights to Disney and other major services looking to bolster up content for their own platforms, where does this leave Sky who rely on a lot of 3rd party content? (essentially the middle man). Discovery are also already starting to go DTC. What will be left for Sky? HBO could go standalone next time rights are up for renewal. Other film studios might also go the same. Also Amazon could take away more Premier League rights when they come up for renewal. Sky will hardly produce enough original content/sports to justify the greater expense compared to streaming? Also 'cord-cutting' hasn't really started in the UK yet like the US?
Sky will likely still be stable enough to rely on their corporate neighbours NBC, their recent deal with DreamWorks on Sky Kids and Disney allowing Sky to still broadcast the '20th Century' films due to the loose connection to Disney.
As for anything else, the likelihood is that Sky will be fine in the long term with them also being able to run HBO and other WarnerMedia content through their services, opting for some Warner channels (namely Cartoon Network) to air those HBO Max Originals anyway. I can't imagine Sky will go anytime soon.
Presumably though, Sky themselves are thinking about this? With Sky Studios being built & budgets increasing.. they’re slowing adding to the slate of originals.
Probably for another discussion but, is there too many places to “get” new TV content these days? BBC/ITV/C4 (free TV), Sky/UKTV (Paid for), Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney+ etc. People can only invest in or subscribe to so much! Let alone find time to consume.
Does anyone really subscribe to Apple TV+ I only use it because it was free with my iPhone, I wouldn't subscribe to it once that runs out. BritBox is another which I've managed to get for free for a year as I'm both a EE and a BT customer but will likely cancel it until Spitting Image series 2 comes about.
Amazon Prime is probably the best in terms of value for money because Prime Video is just one aspect of it rather than the main selling point.
The originals are largely credible, they've invested into Sky Arts which has launched on Freeview and still a decent back catalogue regardless of losing Disney content.
Being part of Comcast will help to keep the business viable along with resource sharing, while NOW TV can still be used as a brand for those who can't or won't pay for Sky, but will pay for the occasional football match on Sky Sports or for a month of entertainment.
It's weird how in the US Peacock as a streaming service is almost seen as a replacement for Comcast's pay TV Xfinity with its own exclusive shows and big promotion where as in the UK Sky satellite TV is still the big main focus with shows appearing simultaneously on both pay TV/Now TV. I wonder will Sky ever add exclusive content to NowTV like some of the Peacock originals?
I think the likes of Comcast and AT&T are using Peacock and HBO Max to supplement their cable business since you get them for free if you subscribe to certain packages and in the case of HBO Max, if you already subscribe to HBO on cable, you also get it free.
I don’t think Sky will disappear anytime soon, but over the last year or two with the streaming competition it’s made it much easier to demonstrate that Sky isn’t great value and it will need to do more to convince subscribers to keep paying for the top tier packages.
I don’t watch any sport so I can’t comment on how it performs there but in terms of Movies - which having two young children is perhaps the only part of the subscription which has a value has been looking very anemic recently- the new relationship between Sky and Disney being quite obvious.
I think the full price for movies is 18.99 per month - there is no way it can claim to be worth that any more especially compared to the Disney+ treasure chest for less than half price.
I recently left Sky for BT, I had SkyQ, with Box Sets, Sports, HD and a second box, all in all with broadband I was paying £91 as an offer. That expired in September last year and the non offer price went up to £130 per month, to which for me I was not getting my money’s worth. I found that due to work and other commitments I was only watching Sports and the FTA channels. I watched maybe one or two series a year from the main Sky channels. I had no issue with Sky per se, it was that I had no time, nor interest in some content. SkyQ remains an excellent product I must add.
When I called Sky to cancel I explained this and whilst they were helpful enough, you simply cannot get Sky Sports without having to commit to the main package, and I simply refuse to pay a lot of money for services I wasn’t watching. I therefore switched to BT and I’m only paying for what I watch now, but I can be flexible with the packages I can add or remove. Something you cannot get with Sky.
Sky certainly has a future, but as said when you have flexibility and services such as Disney+ offering a premium for a fraction of the price, Sky doesn’t look as valuable by comparison. If it can adapt or really sell itself in the future, then I’m sure there’ll be a place for it. Certainly it has a more optimistic future under Comcast.
:-(
A former member
Just as a channel, is there a point to Sky One any more? I've not seen anything in the way of a big production/promotion that would attract me to it.