[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

I would have thought that adding Netflix and Amazon to the Now TV box would have made it more attractive, leading to more sales. That's certainly why I chose a Roku over the other available options.

The Roku and Now TV boxes have entirely different business models:
Roku - cost of box covered by purchase price plus marginal revenue from apps. Cheapest Roku box on website £70.
Now TV - cost of box subsidised by sale of content. Cost of box on website £15 but when bundled with content, it means that it's effectively given away. Works on the razor principle - give away the razor and make money from the sales of the blades.

Adding Netflix and Amazon would make the Now TV box more attractive and it would sell more. Each Now TV box makes a loss (remember the difference in price between a Now TV box and a Roku is £55 (£70-£15) and having Netflix and Amazon Prime on would reduce the chances of purchasers subscribing to Now TV. So Sky would be faced with a choice of funding more box sales with less chance of recouping its box subsidies or charging more per box which would encroach upon Roku.

The current situation seems to me the best of both worlds - if you want multiple services, pay more and get Roku. If you just want a cheap box for Now TV (plus the PSB catch-up services) then take a subsidised box.

As the saying goes, sales are vanity and profits are sanity.

---------- Post added at 13:20 ---------- Previous post was at 13:04 ----------

Originally Posted by Chad

Totally agree about SKY Sports News but as far as I'm aware it's only available on the NOW TV box. I think this will become a standard channel across all devices and platforms.

It's available on all devices (except YouView) when you subscribe to Sky Sports. Now TV just witholds it to promote its own box.

Originally Posted by Chad

I remember doing a survey a long time ago about channels on NOW TV. I remember that National Geographic channel was one most would want to see added to the the line-up. Whether this arrives or not is anyone's guess at that stage. I wouldn't be shocked to see it.

They could devise a factual pack but that would suggest taking Discovery and National Geographic Wild out of the Entertainment pack. Maybe add some more channels into the Entertainment pack and charge more for it.

Originally Posted by Chad

Just over 2 weeks until we see this "BIG" announcement. I'm interested to see what they deliver. Could be a real viable alternative to SKY and Virgin Media for those on a tighter budget.

Will be interesting to see what they do. At one stage Now TV was bundled with broadband so they may try a broadband offer aimed at the TalkTalk/Plusnet market. Certainly, a higher tier pack with 1080/4K picture quality is likely. Sky obviously knows it must avoid cannibalising its satellite base too much. Interestingly, uSwitch is convinced the new box will be a PVR. Maybe more than one box? https://www.uswitch.com/tv/news/2016...s_now_just_20/