I think this is good and bad for Sky. Good because they'll get subscribers moving to them to see 24, Lost, The Simpson's and... well that's about it basically. On the other hand advertisement money will decrease and it'll hit them in the pocket there.
Although I doubt the channels will be gone for long. Like others have said, Nick went away for a while and came back.
The best way to get Sky to toe the line is to hurt them in their pocket.
I have been trying to disconnect from Sky for 20 months and each time they offer me 2 packages (entertainment & Docs) for £7.50. I have been threatening to leave them every six months and each time the come up with a different offer but it adds up to the same amount. Say you can get top up TV for less or whatever excuse that comes to mind and they will treat you as a "valued customer" After almost 2 years I have finally got rid of the subscription altogether and don't miss the repeats of american docs and entertainment.
Why pay for just three months programming per year which is repeated over 12 months?
DON'T RING THE 0870 404040 NUMBER. Try the say no to 0870 site as Sky frequently change the free access numbers. Be warned it usually takes 15 - 20 mins for them to answer.
How is paying them £90 a year going to hurt them in the pocket?
Because it will show up on their balance sheet as a discounted package, and hopefully bu**er up their targets.
The freeview signal in my area is not too good which was the excuse I was using to myself for not ditching it alltogether but now It's gone I don't miss having to pay Sky and I still get most of the Freeview stuff on satallite - E4 etc are watchable on Freeview so its possible to get by.
I hope that Sky is brought down to size by NTL Virgin in a way that Ofcom has disgracefully failed to do.
This is just bad, I watch Sky One, Sky News and Sky Sports News, I really can't believe that Sky would stoop so low, even if it was the current deal just carried on while both parties discuss what happens. I'm just glad I have Freeview as back up, but I know people who don't and I know they will be annoyed by this.
It'll be the die hard Simpsons, 24 & Lost fans that will suffer most from the loss of Sky One. The double whammy for Lost fans with first C4 having lost the series and then taking it off cable, with a potential 1/3 of it's audience literally, lost. Sky have virtually killed off that show in this country.
Dedicated fans will no doubt probably procure the episodes elsewhere via an increase in downloading illegally, in turn declining audiences for Sky One and less advertising revenue.
All the other TV channels are available elsewhere in some form or another so no great loss, a blow for Sky News though to lose such a large section of it's already dwindling audience. I, for one will be remaining with Virgin Media whatever and think they should stick to their guns on this one.
Just had a thought - are Sky playing even dirtier than we think they are and might use the ditching of Sky One specifically from Cable to bully OFCOM into green-lighting their DTT plans.
It'll be the die hard Simpsons, 24 & Lost fans that will suffer most from the loss of Sky One. The double whammy for Lost fans with first C4 having lost the series and then taking it off cable, with a potential 1/3 of it's audience literally, lost. Sky have virtually killed off that show in this country.
That's the problem, I am a die hard Simpsons fan, I've been rather satisfied with the service we've had from Nynex/Cable & Wireless/NTL/Vigin Media for about ten years or so now, probably the only reason why we got it. Granted I don't have every episode on DVD, but it's nice to watch some on TV (which I'm doing right now albeit on Channel 4) and it makes a good choice.
I wouldn't consider switching to Sky as VM Broadband is rather superb, Sky is full of loads of what I consider to be Spam Channels, I know I'm not missing anything, and foremost my parents wouldn't want a Satellite dish on the house.
I personally think that Sky and Virgin might make up soon and come to some deal, whereby the Sky channels don't go; because VM won't want the channels to leave.
I just saw an advert for Channel 'E!' on TMF (about 20 minutes ago) advertising the Oscars for this weekend... at the bottom of the advert it says you can watch the channel on Sky and also on NTL:Telewest!!!! They must have forgot to change the logo or update it to show Virgin Media!!!
The signal that Virgin/NTL's been pumping into my home has had the wrong ratios for ages.
They've never been good.
Everything's just 4:3 with the bits on either side just chopped off.
Is this the same everywhere? Sorry if it's been mentioned elsewhere in the thread.
I know it sounds silly but have you tried altering the Screen Settings on your STB? Pratically when all STB's are first installed they keep it on 4:3 Normal and let you change it.
On my parents Widescreen TV they have it on 16:9 Widescreen but it often goes into Letterbox or 4:3 Normal mode. I have a Widescreen TV and the same setting and it never happens to me, yet we have the same model of STB, albeit mine has a Cable & Wireless logo stamped over it.
