Sky HD Channels

[grooverider]

Do you think if we provided enough consumer demand to Virgin (Richard Branson) that we could twist their arm on things like Sky One HD, Discovery HD etc?

I was just thinking that a petition from all TV Drive owners might persuade them to try harder and get the channels we want.

I mean how much money can Sky be wanting for an annual licence to redistribute Sky One HD? I'm sure for instance that Sports fans would pay for Sky Sports HD at a premium

[Nikesh]

Not sure, I doubt it though.....

[Chris Howell]

Originally Posted by grooverider

Do you think if we provided enough consumer demand to Virgin (Richard Branson) that we could twist their arm on things like Sky One HD, Discovery HD etc?

I was just thinking that a petition from all TV Drive owners might persuade them to try harder and get the channels we want.

I mean how much money can Sky be wanting for an annual licence to redistribute Sky One HD? I'm sure for instance that Sports fans would pay for Sky Sports HD at a premium

Its not totally up to Branson. When Sky charge a price for their HD content which is acceptable to Virgin Media, then we'll see those channels.

Plus, we can't assume that every single TV Drive owner has a HD ready TV. Many people have got one just for the enhanced recording features, and they're still using a standard TV set.

And I, for one, won't be paying a penny extra to watch HD footy via Virgin. I'm already paying for Sky Sports Collection AND TV Drive Rental AND £5 to keep the existing box.

[pachelbel]

Originally Posted by grooverider

Do you think if we provided enough consumer demand to Virgin (Richard Branson) that we could twist their arm on things like Sky One HD, Discovery HD etc?

I was just thinking that a petition from all TV Drive owners might persuade them to try harder and get the channels we want.

I mean how much money can Sky be wanting for an annual licence to redistribute Sky One HD? I'm sure for instance that Sports fans would pay for Sky Sports HD at a premium

Do you really want to watch SK1 in HD. I mean it does not ever get in the top tv ratings. No, I wonder why??????????

Here's a hint. Can you name ONE quality in-house program Sky has produced since it launched however long time ago it was.

[Chris Howell]

Originally Posted by pachelbel

Do you really want to watch SK1 in HD. I mean it does not ever get in the top tv ratings. No, I wonder why??????????

Here's a hint. Can you name ONE quality in-house program Sky has produced since it launched however long time ago it was.

So?

Just because you don't like the channel, doesn't mean that other people don't want to watch HD content on it.

I for one would love to see nBSG, Lost and 24 on Sky One HD. And I'm pretty sure other people would like to watch those shows via the TV Drive too.

[Toto]

We need to keep in mind that Sky do not have to offer HD to other network providers. In fact, they can hold back indefinately, wait until a large population of cable customers have HD TV's, and really push to get the business off the cable companies.

The only way that a situation like that could be reversed is that Flextech (Bravo, Trouble), the content company which is mostly owned by former Telewest manages to procure some top HD content before Sky does, and Sky come cap in hand with a deal so that they don't loose customers to ntl / Telewest. I think though that the boat has already sailed on that possibility for the moment, we may have to wait some months yet, possibly a year...who knows?

Sky will not give anything to ntl / Telewest it doesn't have to, and given the move it put on ITV, and the advertising deal it did with Virgin Radio, I think its safe to say its out for blood, or possibly scared of the potential threat the Virgin brand has to its business.

I'm sure ntl / Telewest, Virgin Media or whatever the Television arm will be called would love to be able to offer some top notch HD content to rival Sky, I simply don't think they have the ability right now. But I am hopeful this will change.

For now, TVDrive will be a great PVR, it won't be a HD must have for a while yet.