RE: OT WAS Re: ADSL vs Cable - NOW DIGITAL TV

["Kenneth Watt" <kennwatt@xxxxxxx>]

Sorry I can't resist it anymore! This is all an opinion based on trade
articles and a lot of surfing ;-)

Sky *is* UK TV at the moment, they have the vast majority of the decent
content that is imported and now carry all the TV stations available to
the UK AFAIK. Okay, ignore the regional stuff like us really decent
folks in Scotland and the Irish contingent get, but in the main Sky
carry every bit of content...*NO* other carrier can claim that!

NTL, Telewest et all have not got, nor will ever have the coverage to
compete with either Sky or ITVD, I'm sorry but it's simply not a
commercially viable proposition unless cables are in the ground already
and that is a lot of investment for them or government.

So we have FTA programming courtesy of the BBC, although it's not really free, it=92s a misnomer to label it as free, we do pay a licence fee after<= BR> all, but politically it sounds good. ;-)

The BBC's content is superb, probably some of the best programming in
the world, if you like documentaries, period drama and the odd decent
sitcom but other than that it lacks getting the big crowd pullers simply as it cannot generate the revenue to support them. For example, Star
Trek: The Next Generation re-runs were sold just about six months ago to the Sci-Fi Channel, IIRC, for some ridiculous sum in the US and that's
an old show (I think it was in the tens of millions of dollars for three years showing rights)! This is the problem though, in 1987 ST TNG was
budgeted at one million dollars per episode, even at half that, the BBC
cannot compete.

Apart from that, I learned today that the BBC are not allowed by the ITC (AFAIK) not to get involved in pay-TV or it loses the rights to the
licence fee, bummer! Same goes if they start showing adverts :-(

Even after all this, all the pay-TV suppliers carry Sky's content!!

IMO, Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV has what is tantamount to a monopoly in the UK TV marketplace and *if* ITVD fails then Sky has licence to charge
what it likes for the service as for the majority of us cable is not an
option. Even if it were, as Tim said, the quality is generally pants
anyway and Sky has degraded over the past couple of years too as more
and more channels are assimilated!

Bear in mind that when I started with Sky the full package cost =A324.99 a<= BR> month for all the channels on the old analogue system, it is now =A337 a month for, what is to me, the same content as nothing has been added
that I particularly want. An increase of nearly 50% in under ten years
and now without ITVD Sky has no competition worth bothering about IMO.

Oh, and another happy thought, the Premiership deal is coming up for
re-negotiation too and that should be good for a laugh...then I'm
betting that the subscriptions will either get hiked or more events will go to PPV.

So are we all happy campers and do we like Mr Murdoch's stranglehold on
UK TV?

Answers on a postcard please...

K.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stuart Booth [mailto:stuart@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 23 April 2002 15:36
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx > Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Re: ADSL vs Cable
>
> On 23 Apr 02, at 14:40, Maccy wrote:
>
> > Not all, but most, admittedly. Sky rules for the sports fan at th= e
> > moment as cable doesn't have any sports interactivity.
>
> Oooo, I just had to have a go at that. :-)
>
> Actually ITV Sport rules for the sports fan at the moment ... if
> British Superbikes is your thing. <Very Big Grin> Widescreen &am= p;
> live coverage. Fantastic !!!
>
> Football =3D=3D yawn. :-))
>
> Sadly it looks like [ON ITV]dodgy've only got cash for 2 weeks left<= BR> > (according to a reporter on the news last night). Then I'm screwed. > <deep sigh> Haven't seen any evidence of any of the motorbike > series' I watch on Sky Sports.
>
> Uhh, oops, horrendously OT.
>
> Stuart
>
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