[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Horizon

....are you waiting for Sky's IPTV service, Old Boy?

Sky's new IPTV service is an interesting development, but it is deeper than that for me.

I have been saying for a while that I am concerned about the lack of quality viewing on the non-premium pay TV channels. Although there are one or two good things to watch, you have to look hard to find them because they are few and far between. The only recordings or on demand viewings I will access this week from Sky's own non-premium channels are Mosaic (Sky Atlantic), Save Me (Sky Atlantic), The Blacklist (Sky One), Here and Now (Sky Atlantic), The Good Doctor (Sky Living), Jamestown (Sky One), Britannia (Sky Atlantic), and there's also The Walking Dead on Fox.

Now most of these are lukewarm at best (I would not bother with them if my wife didn't want to see them), and you will note that four out of the eight programmes are on Sky Atlantic, which is not available on the Virgin platform.

So the value to me of these channels is not particularly great and so if the situation gets much worse, I may well abandon these channels in the future and simply watch the films pack on Now TV.

However, there are other factors too which will inform my thinking. Virgin's content may well be bolstered soon with Sky Atlantic (enabling me to cancel my entertainment pass with Now TV) and VM's own exclusive content will start to make a difference in the choices we have. This could be significant if the choices were good ones. I have been enjoying 'Good Behaviour' and I have bookmarked other shows from the Virgin Exclusives. If they continue to add and bolster their content in this area, that will be a significant factor in keeping me with Virgin.

Finally, I will be looking at new streaming apps being added to the system. If Virgin finally secured Amazon, that would ensure that all the content I watch can be searched from my V6 box, and that would also be significant for me. However, I would like to see much more choice of streaming services on the V6, and if Sky offered that but Virgin didn't, that would definitely make me consider my options.

So there are lots of factors involved, and when things become clear on which way VM is going, I will make the decision on whether to stay or go.

I have already cancelled my Sky Cinema package with Virgin, by the way, because I watched all films from Sky's offering through on demand to save space for other recordings but too many of these are shown in standard definition only. So I have taken out the movies pass on Now TV instead. Currently, everthing is shown in the lowest level of HD (720p) but that is much better than standard definition (I have a 49" screen).

So to answer the question, I have already cancelled my Sky Cinema sub with VM and I am biding my time before I make any further moves. I would prefer to stay with VM rather than go to Sky but I will continue to monitor the position. And if the choice on Sky's non premium channels gets much worse, I may decide to go Freeview, Now TV films pack, Netflix and Amazon. Unless of course, Virgin come up with a good choice of exclusives (especially if they are in UHD!).