Sky / Discovery Dispute

Not able to confirm this is happening myself, as I'm at work, but surely that's not legal?

IF Discovery were to go it alone and set-up an alternative subscription option on the Sky platform (something I believe Sky legally have to accommodate to avoid monopoly issues), it would be interesting to see how much pressure they would be put under to reduce their subscription rates.

Eurosport and the Discovery factual channels are not minor channels in the multi-channel arena, and have a pretty decent perceived value among viewers I'd suggest. If you lost them from your bundle (particularly if you don't subscribe to Sky's premium movies and sport), you'd expect your bundle to be cheaper...

Another poster on Digital Spy has said this isn't correct - access isn't blocked.

'Expect' being the optimum word - but with Sky paying gazzillions for premier league football, I would bank on even a 50p reduction.

Course, if Discovery want an increase, they could just close down a couple of the very least watched channels - like Discovery Shed for instance.
With the amount saved on carriage and EPG slots, asking Sky for a reduction due to the closure of the channels, would be like an increase via a more roundabout way.
Or are Discovery looking for an astronomical increase on the current rate, which Sky are bulking at?

I can access it at work but not on my home PC (via TeamViewer). From home:

Tracing route to www.keepdiscovery.co.uk [4.35.148.223]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms SkyRouter.Home [192.168.0.1]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms ip-84-38-37-18.easynet.co.uk [84.38.37.18]
4 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms ae-3.r02.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [83.231.221.
45]
5 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms ae-3.r24.londen12.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.2
3]
6 80 ms 79 ms 79 ms ae-5.r24.nycmny01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.1
8]
7 145 ms 144 ms 144 ms ae-2.r20.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.1
3]
8 142 ms 142 ms 143 ms ae-0.r21.sttlwa01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.5
4]
9 160 ms 160 ms 160 ms ae-3.r23.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.1
24]
10 164 ms 163 ms 166 ms ae-0.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.1
82]
11 170 ms 171 ms 170 ms ae-6.r23.lsanca07.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.1
51]
12 178 ms 178 ms 177 ms ae-2.r00.lsanca07.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.2
38]
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.

From work:

Tracing route to www.keepdiscovery.co.uk [4.35.148.223]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.254
2 3 ms 3 ms 4 ms **-**-**-**.virtual1.co.uk [**.**.**.**]
3 41 ms 21 ms 20 ms 172.21.14.206
4 18 ms 18 ms 19 ms 149.6.2.198
5 19 ms 18 ms 19 ms te0-0-0-11.ccr21.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com [149.6.2.197]
6 21 ms 24 ms 22 ms level3.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com [130.117.14.134]

I didn't have any problem accessing it from home, and I use Sky Broadband.

I always thought that Sky never had disputes considering that they are one of the biggest pay-TV providers in Europe. But as I can see, Sky are really gonna lose subscribers, due to how Sky nearly spent all of their money on the Premier League. It doesn't help it that Sky are trying to keep customers by plugging Sky Sports Mix and failing at blocking keepdiscovery.co.uk.

This kind of reminds me of ITV Digital, when football was the reason it all went bankrupt. It could happen. Seriously.

http://m.broadcastnow.co.uk/5114195.article

Jeremy Darroch has his say on the matter....

Same result on tracert as Ste above... whether on laptop or phone connected to sky hub. Phone connected to 4G gets straight there.... so they've definitely blocked something!

Having no such issues reaching the site via a Sky Broadband connection, so I would say the jury's still out.

I'd be sad if Discovery left Sky however I have to admit that I don't watch a great deal on any of the channels affected by this. In fact, I can't remember the last show I watched...

I think the problem is with the EPG slots. Personally I don't often venture higher than 400 on the EPG (with the exception of the news channels at 501-519). As a result, I miss what's on when I'm channel surfing.

Sky have just vacated the 700 range with the close of the linear Box Office channels so moving all the documentaries up there would give them a bit of a platform. Having them squeezed in at 520 always seemed an odd place... Some sort of marketing campaign for documentaries at 700+ to publicise the move then?

I like this:

We believe it’s wrong for Sky to charge you more and offer you less. Make your voice heard! Tweet @SkyHelpTeam #KeepDiscovery pic.twitter.com/KnlWCTkT9N

— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) January 26, 2017

Also no issues reaching keepdiscovery.co.uk here, on a Sky broadband connection.