Archive for the ‘Sky Digital’ Category

The UK’s leading subscription-based sports broadcasters have agreed equal deals with the Scottish Premier League, with both Sky and ESPN paying a combined £80 million for 30 exclusive live games each.

According to The Guardian, the new deal runs until the end of the 2016-17 season, and also ensures the continuation of the current league format, despite campaigning from fans for a larger league. This also means that the always feisty four Old Firm derbies per season will remain in place until at least the end of the new TV deal.

Speaking about the door closing, for now, on a significantly larger SPL, the top division’s chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “There is no room to manoeuvre in terms of expanding. Fourteen teams might potentially work in terms of having a split league and retaining four Old firm games. Maybe. That would be feasible.”

“But it has never been feasible to have 16, 18 or 20 because you automatically mean going to one home game and one away. We think that will take £20m out of Scottish football. That is a massive amount of money per season, in terms of lost gate and TV revenue. The lost gate revenue is not to be underestimated. So going to 16, 18 or 20 – financially – is impossible.”

The new deal is said to be bringing in an extra £3 million per year for the SPL.

Sky, Virgin Media and BT Vision customers can all add Sky Sports and ESPN to their digital TV subscriptions.

An agreement has been reached between digital TV heavyweights Sky and Virgin Media, which will see customers of the latter offered access to on demand service Sky Anytime.

Sky Anytime was originally available exclusively to Sky customers, but this deal will extend the service to Virgin Media viewers. With Sky Anytime, you can pick and choose content that is in line with your current subscription, and watch it at a time that suits you.

Virgin Media already boasts a huge on demand library of its own, including access to BBC iPlayer and 4OD, as well as a range classic and contemporary movies and TV shows. With the addition of Sky Anytime, Virgin Media customers subscribing to the full Sky Movies package will have access to an extra 500 titles. Combined with the titles available through FilmFlex, PictureBox and Virgin Media Player, that brings the total to over 1,000 on demand movies.

Virgin Media customers with the full Sky Sports package will also be able to view on demand sports highlights from the channels, including Barclays Premier League and UEFA Champions League football.

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Investigative organisation the Competition Commission has today announced its preliminary findings regarding Sky and its dominance over pay-TV movies.

The public body, which acts as a competition regulator, has provisionally ruled that Sky is restricting UK competition, and therefore directly causing higher prices and reduced choice, because of agreements with Hollywood studios to show films first on the Sky Movies channels.

The six major Hollywood studios are Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney/Touchstone, Columbia and Universal, and Sky has deals with each one for film rights. According to the BBC, Sky also has twice as many pay-TV subscribers as all the other rivals combined.

Laura Carstensen, chairman of the Competition Commission’s movies on pay-TV investigation, said: “Sky has had control of recent movie content on pay-TV for many years.”

“At the heart of the problem is Sky’s strong position in the pay-TV market, with twice as many subscribers to pay TV as all other traditional pay-TV retailers put together.

“This provides Sky with a great advantage when it comes to bidding for movie rights, which no rival bidder has yet been able to overcome - and, if things stay as they are, we see no likely prospect of change.

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Today has seen a landmark move in the world of F1, with Sky successfully purchasing the live broadcast rights to every single race from the 2012 season up to 2018.

This deal will put the globally popular, high-octane motor sport on UK pay-TV for the first time in its history, and is sure to ruffle a few feathers amongst licence-fee payers.

The BBC will still have joint rights to show half of the season’s races, qualifying laps and practice sessions, and the free-to-air channel will include live coverage of the renowned races at Silverstone and Monaco. The BBC will also have highlights of the races that are exclusively on Sky.

Undoubtedly Sky will consider this a major coup, and whilst the BBC still has some live coverage, F1 fanatics will certainly be tempted by Sky Sports, in light of this surprising news.

Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, was upbeat despite the loss of live coverage, saying: “We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC.”

“The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10-year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments.”

“With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence-fee payers.”

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Digital TV giant Sky has fixed the prices paid by customers, in a move designed to aid families during tight financial times.

News reported by website Cable.co.uk confirmed that the price freeze runs from September 1st this year to August 31st 2012, which will be welcome news for Sky customers at a time when UK residents are seeing other bills continue to rise.

Sky’s leading rival Virgin Media is, conversely, increasing monthly line rental from August 1st, and its connection fees are expected to rise, whilst BT Vision has already bumped up landline charges this year.

Managing Director of Sky’s customer group, Andrea Zappia, said: “With subscription prices frozen for at least a year, our customers can look forward to getting more than ever from Sky.”

Sky has also recently worked to streamline its service, after announcing that the viewing packs will be simplified, and Sky Mobile TV and Sky Player have both been combined to form the new on demand service Sky Go.

The BBC has formally announced plans to air the Wimbledon singles finals live in 3D this year. This marks the broadcaster’s first foray into the technology that is riding a wave of reignited popularity.

The women’s and men’s singles finals at Wimbledon are due to take place on Saturday 2nd July and Sunday 3rd July respectively, and are considered a highlight in the tennis calendar. Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, and the only one played on the über-quick grass surface, with many players considering it to be the ultimate prize in the sport.

With breathtaking competitors such as six-time French Open winner and current world no.1 Rafael Nadal, Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and sixteen-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, as well as Brit hopeful Andy Murray, all taking part, Wimbledon 2011 has the makings of a classic, and seeing it in 3D for the first time will be a big draw for spectators.

BBC’s head of HD and 3D, Danielle Nagler, said: “We’re bringing audiences a new way of getting close to the action.”

“I’m sure that 3D will only add to the drama as the world’s greatest players compete for the championship.”

BBC’s executive sport producer, Paul Davies, added: “This unique 3D transmission is the latest innovation to bring to life all the tension, drama and excitement on one of the most iconic sporting arenas in the world.”

The coverage will cross BBC One, BBC Two, the BBC website and the red button, and the 3D coverage will be available to those with a 3D-ready TV as well as access to BBC HD.

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Digital TV giant Sky has announced impressive results for the first quarter, which include confirmation that the satellite broadcaster’s customer base has passed the milestone of 10 million.

A press release detailed several promising statistics, including the fact that Sky now has 3.7 million customers choosing the HD, or high definition, TV service, which currently costs an additional £10.25 per month.  This equates to almost a 50% rise over the last year.

Sky added that over a quarter of all its customers now choose to use Sky for TV, internet and phone services in the home,  with a toal of 3.2 million households taking up Sky broadband.

Part of the success can be attributed to the launch and hugely positive performance of Sky Atlantic, which broadcasts a selection of high quality new and classic drama from leading US TV network HBO.  Wildly popular prohibition-era gangster series Boardwalk Empire and dazzling medieval fantasy-drama Game of Thrones brought rave reviews from both sides of the pond, and have helped to draw the attention of TV lovers everywhere.

These new dramas are shown in the UK exclusively on Sky Atlantic, giving Sky customers that extra incentive to choose HD for the benefits of the increased visual quality.  The channel also shows many of the old favourites, including global mega-hit The Sopranos and acclaimed medical series ER.

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Virgin Media has announced an agreement with US film studios Disney and Paramount which will see 3D movies and content broadcast exclusively to customers through its 3D On Demand service.

Sky has taken the first steps into commercial 3D broadcasting in the UK, and fierce rival Virgin Media has moved quickly to provide a genuinely competitive option for its customers.

Plenty of 3D content is was already available at no extra cost, echoing the digital TV provider’s model for HD broadcast, whilst the new film titles can now be ordered through FilmFlex for a rental fee; these include the eye-popping pain-fest that is Jackass 3D, and effects-laden extravaganza TRON: Legacy.

Virgin Media’s director of on demand TV and strategy said: “We’re thrilled to be adding this exciting range of new movies to our 3D video on demand service from two of the biggest studios Paramount Pictures and Disney.”

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Broadband and digital TV provider Virgin Media has revealed that breathtaking superfast broadband speeds reaching 100Mbps will be made available to thousands of homes in Cardiff and some surrounding areas.

Broadband customers with access to these kinds of broadband speeds are able to ddownload a standard definition movie in around a minute and a half, whilst a music album can take less than six seconds.

Executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, Jon James, said: “We know residents in Cardiff will be blown away by what 100Mb can deliver and the very real impact this can have on day to day life, be it uploading family holiday videos to share with friends or downloading an entire music album in a matter of seconds.”

“The launch of our 100Mb service in Cardiff is a significant milestone in the UK’s broadband evolution and a vivid illustration of the power of our next generation network. From establishing the UK’s first ever broadband service to the launch of 100mb just ten years later, Virgin Media has led the greatest developments in digital Britain.”

According to WalesOnline, the 100Mbps superfast broadband package will also be made available in nearby Barry and Treforest, with the deal costing £45 per month, or £35 if taken with a Virgin Media landline, and a £30 activation charge and £40 installation fee will apply for new Virgin media customers.  Existing customers will see their monthly bill increase, and will also have to pay the activation fee.

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Satellite giant Sky has hinted at an unexpected U-turn regarding proposed on-demand TV service YouView.

YouView, formerly known as Project Canvas, will be an internet-connected TV service, offering the last 7 days of content at the touch of a button. It has officially been in the pipeline since late 2008, and collaborators have been welcomed.

Whilst BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five have all been firmly on board as owners/shareholders, the potential participation of Sky seemed dead in the water when the digital TV broadcaster tried to block the project in October of last year.

However, a Sky spokesman has now suggested that involvement may still be an option: “We already distribute Sky content across a wide range of platforms.”

“It makes sense for us to continue to explore new ways of reaching customers, but it’s too early to say at this stage whether we’ll offer a service over YouView.”

This non-committal, but intriguing, quote is the latest development in a complicated history for YouView, as the project was also publicly opposed by Virgin Media, whilst 3View managing director John Donovan expressed concerns about the market impact.

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