Originally Posted by mersey70 (Post 35151305)

I broadly agree re. Sky 1.

By all accounts Sky are looking to considerably beef up their own commissions for Sky 1 and well they should given their track record, it will have a more British feel to it so it could be a win, win for their own customers who have Atlantic too but we will just have to wait and see.

I'd be happy with them investing in more British drama for Sky 1 for now.

Originally Posted by nialli (Post 35151309)

Sky will be advertising the launch of Sky Atlantic at considerable expense, and that, coupled with the the money it has invested in procuring programmes, will mean that they want to keep it exclusive for a period - an expensive ad for Sky Atlantic is also a free ad for Sky.
Once the dust has settled they will probably drop the price for other platforms and we'll see it on Virgin and maybe BT too. I fear that this won't be in time for season 5 of Mad Men, which means I will end up watching my favourite show on my laptop rather than my HD TV :(
Like Old Boy, this channel really appeals to me, but I'm not prepared to switch platforms for it. I still can't quite figure out why Sky didn't add it to the Sky Movies packages (that's how they premiered The Pacific last year) - I would have thought that would have driven more folk to take up more premium subscriptions and paid back quicker - but they've gone a different route, c'est la vie.

Originally Posted by heavyside (Post 35151286)

The point about Sky Atlantic that's easy to overlook is that Sky have already stated that they are also moving their new and best home-grown drama from Sky One to the new channel. That's going to mean that the likes of the Terry Pratchett and Andy McNab dramas will find a new home there. I, too, hope that VM manage to strike a deal on Sky Atlantic.

Originally Posted by ahardie (Post 35151317)

Given there enormous resources their track record is very poor in my opinion and I have heard stories about them considerably beefing up their commisions before.



You could be right but there is actually nothing to stop them keeping this channel exclusive to satellite. I wonder if there is any precedent for this. Has any other broadcaster started a general entertainment channel before with a view to restricting the amount of people who can actually view it? Not including just HD channels.

Originally Posted by nialli (Post 35151326)

Wow. You mean BOTH of their homegrown series for 2011 will be on Sky Atlantic??
I dont' think that's true, and it's hardly the end of the world. Much as I enjoyed Thorne, there is far more superior UK-produced series on even BBC4 than Sky has on all of its channels.

---------- Post added at 17:00 ---------- Previous post was at 16:59 ----------



Sky1 was satellite only during the big bust up a few years ago. Advertisers forced Sky to put it back on Virgin. I think VirginOne may have been exclusive to cable for a few weeks, not sure on that.

Sky has 10m TV customers, VM has shy of 4m. Advertisers want the eyeballs, they don't care about platforms, and as Sky isn't generating any additionals subs revenues with Sky Atlantic and platform jumpers are likely to be insignificant, they'll broaden the audience for Sky Atlantic at some point, it's just a matter of when. Or they'll charge for it.

I don't pretend to understand some of Sky's logic. I would have thought they would have dropped the £10 a month HD sub by now, but they haven't.

All off topic for this thread - why doesn't Media Boy start a "Not coming soon to Virgin Media" thread for this kind of discourse? :)

Originally Posted by nialli (Post 35151326)

I think VirginOne may have been exclusive to cable for a few weeks, not sure on that.

Originally Posted by mersey70 (Post 35151350)

It could be they haven't dropped the now £10.25 HD charge as it rakes in around £300 million per year!

Maybe once they have recouped their HD investment they will drop the HD charge like they did with the Sky+ fee, or maybe they won't. Who knows.

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35151288)

Each week Virgin seem to fall further and further behind Sky interms of something being announced

Originally Posted by spiderplant (Post 35151364)

Let's see what the facts say...

http://pressoffice.virginmedia.com/p...sArchive&nyo=1
http://corporate.sky.com/media/press_releases/2010.htm

I make that VM 106, Sky 43.

Originally Posted by nialli (Post 35151326)

Sky has 10m TV customers, VM has shy of 4m. Advertisers want the eyeballs, they don't care about platforms, and as Sky isn't generating any additionals subs revenues with Sky Atlantic and platform jumpers are likely to be insignificant, they'll broaden the audience for Sky Atlantic at some point, it's just a matter of when. Or they'll charge for it.

I don't pretend to understand some of Sky's logic. I would have thought they would have dropped the £10 a month HD sub by now, but they haven't.

All off topic for this thread - why doesn't Media Boy start a "Not coming soon to Virgin Media" thread for this kind of discourse? :)

Originally Posted by spiderplant (Post 35151364)

Let's see what the facts say...

http://pressoffice.virginmedia.com/p...sArchive&nyo=1
http://corporate.sky.com/media/press_releases/2010.htm

I make that VM 106, Sky 43.

Originally Posted by mersey70 (Post 35151395)

I couldn't care less who makes the most noise in terms of number of announcements, i'm more interested what they actually have to say from a customer point of view.

As a customer I am not interested if VM Announces Expiry of Exchange Offer for Senior Secured Notes Due 2018 or if BSkyB is to delist from New York Stock Exchange.

Fascinating!

Originally Posted by mersey70 (Post 35151301)

It's personal choice Andrew, it isn't a battle to 'win' for most customers.

Most subscribers don't hate Sky and love VM or the other way around. They are merely providers of a service just like a utility company.

If they are not providing what they want they can choose to move to someone who can, simple as that.