Death of the Dish?
SKY TV (and Virgin Media to a certain extent) have dominated homes for a decade, bringing premium content to homes outside of the standard channels available over Freeview and Freesat.
SKY were particularly innovative with new dramas and have been largely responsible for changing the shape of modern football and sport viewing.
There are also new boxes and multi-room equipment being made available that continue to provide a quality viewing experience and user interface for the customer.
My view is that there is nothing wrong with the product, the issue has always been that no one has a clue what you’re supposed to pay for it!
There is a constant bombardment of offers and entry deals rewarding new customers, followed by a ridiculous price increase after the first contract has run it’s course.
The existing customer then has to go through a merry dance of ringing cancellations and threatening to leave the service to see who blinks first to make price adjustments. How is this acceptable customer service?
It doesn’t make any sense, mainly because I’ve never met anyone that doesn’t enjoy the SKY product. It is a modern day luxury but one that many are reluctant to lose as it provides escapism from the stress of the day and a great viewing experience.
Surely a set flat rate with everybody paying the same is achievable?
I believe there are bigger problems on the horizon for SKY and Virgin. Netflix and Amazon are beginning to dominate movies, box sets and original content, delivered in stunning 4K quality.
Netflix were recently awarded an Oscar, which is a groundbreaking achievement for TV streaming.
Therefore SKY (and BT) MUST dominate sport and particularly Premier League and Champions League football to justify bolt on packages to standard viewing.
My prediction is it won’t be long until Amazon, Netflix and even Google make there move for these games. Amazon have already shown football and last year the Champions League final was streamed on YouTube for free.
Most homes have super fast fibre internet now, so content can easily be delivered this way.
Could this render the humble satellite dish redundant?
Until then, one final note is that many customers don’t realise that you can easily separate the TV element from any deals combined with broadband, so you can still enjoy SKY TV using a different provider. This may represent better value for money and a more suitable positioning of your utilities and services.