I'm guessing the boxes are not yet available. There's a competition to win one on the website, and in the terms and conditions...
Quote:
The prize will be dispatched within 60 days of
the draw date, however Top Up TV have the right to delay delivery of the prize due to unforeseen circumstances.
The competition closes on the 30th September, and that means they must think the boxes may not be available until the end of November.
Not sure - the high start up costs won't do it any favours, but it's an interesting service and long term possibly more viable than the current set up - if they survive the short term!
It all depends on the content!
Also, I hope this clears up the EPG and sees the service all grouped together under the Top Up TV banner on one (or two) channels - though I fear each channel may keep it's own EPG slot!
Firstly:
The box downloads programmes from 19 channels including Living, Paramount Comedy, UKTV Gold, Animal Planet. The box has a high-tech programme guide and allows you to choose the TopUpTv channel you want to watch. A programme menu for this channel will be displayed.
Secondly:
If you are a current subscriber then you save up to 125.00 off the price of the box and there's no connection fee. I've just pre-ordered mine for 75.00 and it will be delivered in mid-late September. You pay a 20.00 deposit and then the rest when it comes. The only snag with the 75.00 price is that you have to commit for twelve months. If you choose not to then you can buy a box for 99.00.
Hope this helps. With no other option available to me, this is the only service I can feasibly opt for. I'm not allowed a Satellite dish due to landlord regulations and I can't get cable TV. I for one, think this could be good.....if only it survives.
Until you get a definate programme list it's very risky. It's possible there could be some problems with rights for channels not currently on DTT, meaning their big programmes don't appear on the service.
The broadcast time for the service is 13 hours a day - so it's less than one programme per channel per day really!
Depending on pricing and coverage, the BT Broadband/Freeview service will probably be more value for money!
It's only limited to 13 hours a day if it is using MPEG2 real time transmission. If it is a data service they *could* use a different form of compression (MP4, for example) which their box could decode and play back. This would increase the amount of material they could send out.
While the idea is nice, I don't see that many people wanting to pay £200 for what is just an enhanced Freeview PVR. I suspect BT's box will be cheaper and offer a wider range of viewing.
At Top Up TV, we've been listening to what our customers want from their service.
Your feedback has driven us to create a brand new and improved service – Top Up TV Anytime - that gives you the programmes
you want, when you want.
To help us get ready for your new Top Up TV Anytime service, the channel hours of your current service will be reduced from August 29. Here’s what to expect:
From the 29 August TCM finishes at 12:55am
From the 31 August UKTV Gold finishes at 2am
From the 5 September Bloomberg Channel will be closed
From the 5 September Toonami will be closed
Programmes from Bloomberg and Toonami will be available on the new Top Up TV Anytime service
The specs look good though, up from what you could find on a Sky+ box HDD wise anyway. I'm pretty sure they don't have S-Video. I suppose one thing going for it is that it still plays stuff when it isn't able to receive a signal, unlike Sky+ which doesn't let you play anything if it can't see anything from the satellite.
However, £209.99 to get started is a lot of money, and some people might argue they can go to Freesat which is £150, all-in with over 120 channels and no further charges - only caveat is to stick a satellite dish on the wall. Or just get standard Freeview for 30 channels for about £30. There is of course full Sky Digital as well and Sky+.
I personally can't see this lasting, although I'm sure they would have thought this business model out before running with it so we'll have to see how it pans out.
Well, for most TOp-Up-TV customers who want to stay with them their easiest solution is to buy the box for 75.00 and then (here's the snag) you have to commit with them for 12 months at 9.99 per month. Now that works out at 75.00 plus 12 times 9.99 which is 194.88. Now if each customer spent that much money (say 50,000) customers that would give them revenue of 9,744000 pounds per annum. Add on top say another 15,000 deciding to buy the box for 99.00 and then continuing a subscription at 9.99 per month for six months this would rake in a further 1,485054.90! Added together this makes 11,229054.90!!!
An awaful lot of money to be made out of existing customers who will probably continue with them owing to being unable to receive extra programmes by any other method. So a guaranteed revenue of 10,000000 for the company means extra revenue from the sponsorship of the box itself plus, remember, the founder is ex-sky tv so there's always ways of finding other funds. And compared to ITV digital, it seems a lot more professionally organised.
In a year from now, the debate may well be "Will I be entitled to any monies refunded owing to paying subscription costs to Liquidated Company TopUpTv." But, I think, for at least for the foreseeable future, the company will hold its own.
A channel slot on Freeview recently sold for £11M.
If I was at Top Up TV I'd have the channel space up for sale.
Yes, I see your see your thinking mate. But take into consideration also the subscriptions to date at 7.99 per month of say 150,000 subscribers over the last two and a half years and this generates a further 35,955,000. Another 15,000 sales of the new box at 209.00 plus say each person taking the subscriptions for a further six months after that and you get another 4,034100 pounds. Add this together and you get 51,989,100 pounds approximately. This is working on the minimum amount of customers and while I'm realistic enough to know that their customers are never going to be anything spectacular (200,000 maximum) this would generate enough money to certainly reach almost 100,000,000 pounds over the next two years. Obviously a fee needs to be paid to each channel for use of their programmes, but these fees are going to be miniscule considering they're not going to broadcast entire channels, only selected programmes.
I may be eating my hat this time next year, but this concept is certainly interesting, and in a few months time, I bet you'll be able to buy the anytime box from Argos for 60.00!! This in itself will increase uptake of the service as an enhancement to Freeview.
I may however be saying I told you so! I want it to work as I've just reserved my anytime box. But I'm not saying it definetely will. For most people (and myself included) the idea seems complicated. Unless you can physically see it being demonstrated I think people will be apprehensive. But, in time it could definetely catch on. It is after all, a compromise for those who just want to watch some of the best digital shows but for just a tenner instead of forty quid!