Sky / Discovery Dispute

Customer Services are not responsible for a lot of things worthy of complaint, but they're on the front line and that's their job so boo hoo.

Also, it's not necessarily a complaint about carriage deals specifically. I cancelled my Sky subscription the last time there was a price increase because I didn't think I was getting value for money. If Sky lose Discovery Networks, that's a lot of channels to lose when there's no doubt another price increase around the corner.

They've already announced a price increase for March.

There's an advert in the papers today where they're arguing about the value of TLC... I laughed and turned the page.

TLC?
'laughs uncontrollably'

I think it's mainly to do with Eurosport - Discovery want to recoup some of the money it spent on the Olympics - but Sky believe that the channels aren't as important these days - coupled with PL overspending. I can see why Sky aren't willing to pay the £1billion over 10 years, but I highly doubt both sides will benefit. Sky sells ad sales for Discovery, an own goal in itself seeing that the channels will be gone by Wednesday, and many who watch the channels will desert Sky for Virgin and BT. I've rambled on about Discovery's reach as far as it's concerned.

On one page Discovery, turn over, then you have Sky. Daily Mirror today.

Oh wow, Monday should be fun.

Yep, that's the one.

The market has changed significantly though in the last ten years though with a significant increase in linear channels, many of them FTA, plus new streaming services and Sky itself much more reliant on On Demand content. Eurosport still carries value as a linear channel but for the Discovery channels they need to stand out now in the on demand market and I don't think they've got the flagship programming that really cuts through a competitive market.


Not sure how much of a factor the Olympic spend really is as I think the model is more about redeeming costs from the PSBs but love the idea that Sky holding out might make Discovery have to withdraw from the rights and force the IOC to go back to the PSBs.

Lots of snobbiness in this thread. "Haw haw TLC who has value for it?"

I don't watch TLC but some people do, so obviously they would value the channel.

I think this is a wake up call to Sky to be honest. They might have the Premier League but not everyone wants Sky Sports; there are plenty out there who subscribe for entertainment and trimming back on content for those viewers whilst also raising prices is bad optics. Discovery may very well have hit a nerve here.

You can't just shrug off a channel just because you don't like it. TLC has got decent ratings and the target audience and people who enjoy it (it's a guilty pleasure of mine- sorry!) will be affected by the spat and so deserve to know that they won't be getting the channel anymore...

Sky's rivals must be loving this.

To an extent. None of them have the reach, stability or advertising clout that Sky has. For all its faults, it is still the number one way to get the most channels into your home in most of the country without relying on fast broadband infrastructure from 3rd party providers or having your street dug up.

It would be a blow, but not a fatal, totally gamechanging blow.