Quote:
Originally Posted by 1andrew1
I think it's pretty clear that right now, Sky Atlantic has been priced to be unviable for any provider - not just VM - to acquire it. TalkTalk, BT and Eir in Ireland don't have it. In fact, the latter two don't even have the Sky basic channels.
So given the pricing structure of Sky Atlantic, what should VM do? I guess VM's options which are not mutually exclusive include:
- Sit tight and accept that the lack of the channel weakens the offering and hope that HBO Online and other services come to the UK. I can see that in the future, HBO Online could come here especially now that there are 6.5m subscribers spread across the BT, TalkTalk and VM platforms who cannot access HBO's content. Plus many more potential access points via Smart TVs, PlayStations, Rokus, tablets etc. When will the tipping point occur?
- Pay Sky's asking price but lose money on every customer and risk the other Sky channels being raised in price to Atlantic levels.
- Doing something like the BT-AMC deal with a US studio which potentially weakens Atlantic in the future by removing some of its content and providing a bargaining tool with Sky apart from money and distribution.
- Ensuring that on-demand services like Netflix and Amazon Prime are available so viewers can see some Atlantic content at a later date. With Netflix in place since 2013, VM is halfway there.
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HBO Go can't launch in the UK until at least 2020; Sky have exclusive rights to HBO content until then. And I'd be very surprised if Sky don't renew it before then.
VM have had ample opportunity to get a Premium US cable network; now the big ones are gone. AMC to BT and Showtime only recently to Sky. Starz is the only major premium one left.