"Sky are revamping their service this summer with cricket, Formula One and golf getting dedicated channels."
...Have they not had a dedicated F1 channel for five years?
I suspect it's more likely to be along the lines of Sky Sports Ashes as a pop-up channel replacing Sky Sports 2 for a while, that's how they've done it before and its the easiest way to maintain EPG position.
It's supposed to herald a big change in pricing for Sky Sports, where you'll be able to take football, golf, F1, and "everything else" as standalone subscriptions.
Could backfire badly. I don't think either golf or F1 are that big enough subscription drivers to merit standalone subs (although I do remember Setanta tried a golf channel at one point). Aren't there also a cohort of Sky basic tier subscribers who have a "legacy" entitlement to Sky Sports F1 because it was part of their package at one point?
Could backfire badly. I don't think either golf or F1 are that big enough subscription drivers to merit standalone subs (although I do remember Setanta tried a golf channel at one point). Aren't there also a cohort of Sky basic tier subscribers who have a "legacy" entitlement to Sky Sports F1 because it was part of their package at one point?
Sky Sports F1 HD is the only "legacy" IIRC, because it used to be part of the HD Pack without the need for a separate Sky Sports subscription. Since then it's now become part of the sports subscription.
The pricing might be interesting to see how it pans out, as at the moment it's £50 a month for Sports (£28 sports, £22 basic) so I suppose it could be pitched as "get everything for £28 a month" (or whatever) or this particular sport for, say, £12 a month or maybe two for £20 a month or similar.
They do need to do something to look at their model. A 14% drop in viewing figures for Premier League on the Sky Sports channels was reported last season.
Sky are pointing to increased take up on Now TV offsetting that decline. So it seems shorter term, targetted subscriptions may be the model going forward. Surely it will reach a point where you can pay for certain sports / games or even teams ?
That's certainly the case in other countries. I think they wanted that model here at one at one point. Remember when Sky nearly bought Manchester United? Granada and Carlton had stakes in Liverpool and Arsenal respectively at one time.
I have the full Sky package at the moment but I couldn't justify keeping it forever, I'd be more happy to pay for what turns out to be 'Sky Sports Premier League' and to ditch the rest. I'm sure that fans of cricket and F1 would do the same too. I know a number of Rugby League fans who would happily take a Sky RL channel should one ever exist in future.