New Sky packages

The question is will you be able to take HD without having to take the kids and the box sets? (£25)
Or will you still have to pay £35 to get HD.

Since right now you need everything to get HD.

Although aren't Sky planning to move towards an online distribution model?

@EastEngland
Sky HD add-on (+£5 a month) - access to the HD versions of the channels. Subscribers who only opt for Sky Entertainment will get these channels in HD where available, while subscribers who have also opted for the Sky Kids and/or Sky Box Sets option will also get these in HD.

There will have a real challenge to do this with some of the customers. I know plenty of OAP who have the dishes but no broadband or phone lines etc

No, they’re planning on launching a full (or at least fuller than Now TV) service via broadband mainly targeted at those who (for whatever reason) can’t have a dish. It’s possible they might move that way in future for other customers but for now it’s an alternative.

What about Sky Sports in HD?

Right now it requires box sets?

I think Sky Cinema is now HD as standard and I was quite surprised they didn't do that with Sky Sports with the channel shake up over the summer.

Yeah, Sky Cinema comes with HD as standard, just not sports.

In my book it's a disgrace that you have to have Box Sets to get Sky Sports HD, Sky Sports Red Button and the Sky Sports Sky Q App.

£6 extra for Sky Sports HD - separate from Box Sets under the new structure.
If you're on old bundles, you don't need to switch if you're better off than you would be on the new bundles and add-ons. For now.

Sky don’t believe in better, red button in SD why this isn’t in HD, and lots of channels in sub standard SD it’s a joke, rupee making money mocking us all.

You cannot get red button at all without the box sets on Sky Q.

The reason is that the red button utiltises the Sky Sports Sky Q App which is only avaliable to those with the box sets.

Yep - NowTV is unicast internet streaming, and significantly lower picture quality than Sky HD (particularly for sport and entertainment where NowTV is only 25Hz, whereas Sky HD is 50Hz for native interlaced content). Sky HD VoD is also significantly higher quality than NowTV (and includes 5.1 audio)

Sky currently requires a satellite feed to work - but Sky have said that they may (will?) be launching an IP-delivered Sky solution at some point (presumably offering SkyQ like functionality without a dish - but possibly by using multicast, as BT do for their IPTV solution?)