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Sky HD subscription price- £50 per month?
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Well I've been told by a chap at Dixons that Sky's HD service next year will only be aimed at the high-end consumers, who will be willing to pay extra to watch the same content that will be available on their normal digital, but in high definition picture quality.
Apparently, the rumour going around is Sky's HD subscription will be at £50 per month, which as he put it, will basically be Sky Digital (as it is currently) in SD format with the normal Sky World pack, plus three channels in HD, mainly consisting of an archive of US tv programming, movies and sports (such as premiership football, WWF, American football, NBA etc in HD and special events/tournaments like World Cup football, Superbowl ).
So its really just Sky digital with an extra 'box office' like system, with HD programming, except that your paying for it in your monthly subscription.
I dont know how true this is or not, but he was pretty certain and felt the subscription price of £50 was going to be a minimum, if it is the case - than I guess there's no point in someone like myself looking to spend extra in getting a Plasma which is "HD-Ready" -- because at 50 quid a month, i just can't see myself being able to afford it and in all honesty, if it is just the same content that is available on SD ; than it would be insane for someone like myself to spend that kind of money just for 'better picture quality'... obviously if you have money to throw around than sure why not !
Having said that, knowing Sky - what they will probably end up doing eventually (maybe within a couple of years) is take Premiership football off normal Sky Digital and make it exclusive for HD . Maybe even get rid of Sky box office movies and make them available on HD only.
In the meantime i guess if i'm looking for a plasma i might well be better off going for a non-HD one, that gives good pic quality on SD. Why spend extra for HD compatibility when it seems that people like myself wont be able to afford Sky's HD system for quite a while yet, it seems.
Apparently, the rumour going around is Sky's HD subscription will be at £50 per month, which as he put it, will basically be Sky Digital (as it is currently) in SD format with the normal Sky World pack, plus three channels in HD, mainly consisting of an archive of US tv programming, movies and sports (such as premiership football, WWF, American football, NBA etc in HD and special events/tournaments like World Cup football, Superbowl ).
So its really just Sky digital with an extra 'box office' like system, with HD programming, except that your paying for it in your monthly subscription.
I dont know how true this is or not, but he was pretty certain and felt the subscription price of £50 was going to be a minimum, if it is the case - than I guess there's no point in someone like myself looking to spend extra in getting a Plasma which is "HD-Ready" -- because at 50 quid a month, i just can't see myself being able to afford it and in all honesty, if it is just the same content that is available on SD ; than it would be insane for someone like myself to spend that kind of money just for 'better picture quality'... obviously if you have money to throw around than sure why not !
Having said that, knowing Sky - what they will probably end up doing eventually (maybe within a couple of years) is take Premiership football off normal Sky Digital and make it exclusive for HD . Maybe even get rid of Sky box office movies and make them available on HD only.
In the meantime i guess if i'm looking for a plasma i might well be better off going for a non-HD one, that gives good pic quality on SD. Why spend extra for HD compatibility when it seems that people like myself wont be able to afford Sky's HD system for quite a while yet, it seems.
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Playstation 3.
Dinger
Fabulous,!
I expect it to be the price of SKYworld (£42.50 from Sept) plus an extra tenner which is reasonable.
Not going to be able to watch Premiership footy on the PS3 nor for the forseeable future anyother UK broadcasts and the blu-ray film catalogue may take a while to even match PPV movies on HD broadcasts.
Sky Sports HD and a HD sky one will still be the main attraction and i still think that i can live without the movies even in HD.
For me, if I was going to pay £50 per month, Id expect Sky Sports, Sky One and three movie channels to be in Hi Def. Otherwise I'll hold off for now.
Sorry, just my 2p worth.
I think we would get it but we would wait for 6 months to a year for the boxes and technology sky are going to use to get all the teething problems out.
For example I don't want a SKY+ v1 box... I want a v2.....
I'm surprised that Sky don't have a HD demo loop running already as Canal+ and Premiere do, because, if you walked into a Dixons or what ever and saw that running on a HD-Ready screen next to one with SD you'll notice the difference! being able to see peoples faces at a football match or in a crowd or as I've seen on HD1, how much crap and bits of rubber there are on motor racing tracks and some of their 'expressions' on close calls
I've had HD here for a while now with HD1 (formerly Euro1080) and some D-Theatre stuff and once you've see it you realise how much SD sucks. I don't think however if you have a screen smaller than 32" you'll get much benefit out of HD, okay so as the high res and bitrate there will be less MPEG noise visible but even then..
Exactly.
If it was £50 ontop of your existing package then that would make even the most die-hard HD fan keep his/her money in their wallet:)
I wouldn't go that far, there must be someone worse out there. But I take your point, even Sky+ 160 at £299 compared with a PVR in Germany of similar spec priced at £229. You don't have to subscribe at £31 a month to have full functionality either. Because Sky use a closed system we can't choose the cheaper box that doesn't require subscription, only a Sky+ box.
Box, expected to be around £500. You will be able to put your name down for SkyHD in order to get it when it comes out, this will be on a first come first serve basis. You'll have to be quick as the demand is high and Sky will not have enough boxes to go around of the first gen boxes. First gen boxes will output HD via component (hint: Sony boxes that have been announced
Just over 60 stores nationwide (so far signed up as of last month when I last heard from Sky)will have the waiting list, these are all hi-fi and AV shops, 49 of these are Sevenoaks Sound and Vision stores. Over 200 retailers (as of last month again) have signed up so far for after launch. Reason being, the average salesman at the none specialised shops that you find on the high street do not have sufficient knowledge (ask someone at Curry's about HDCP and they'll look at you funny, I've even been told that a HDMI socket is a new version of USB).
This is all common knowledge to anyone in the industry.
MD of Dixons will not have HDTV on sale in any of his stores (see ERM Weekly magazine from a few weeks back, cannot remember which issue), he thinks it will not take off. Bet you £10 he will want it after the initial uptake has happened,
90? wow, i'd want a picture on my screen I could see the flys in the air and the football players hand palms for that price.
I'm sure Andy from Sky will be along with the party line, but when the whole country goes digital and Internet broadcasting takes off, then Sky will have to totally rethink it's marketing strategy.
How high can the Sky subs go before the churn rate goes through the roof? Yes it's great to have the movie and sports channels at home, but there comes a point when you have to ask if that convenience is worth the price, when you perhaps dip into events 2 or 3 times a week.
Listening to live soccer on the radio isn't the end of the world. Watch out for the new TV deals, when the Premiership isn't exclusive to Sky, watch those Sky Sports subscriptions evaporate.
Well said m8, I agree there, but I think the movie channels are the worest
I`m sure Sky have done endless market research on that very question. They will have a figure, worked out by researchers, which they know they can push "Mr Average" Sky subscriber to without losing too many customers. Now all we need is for one of the Sky employees on this forum to tell us what it is!!!
Sky needs to get together with the movie studios and cut the time lag between cinema and TV. Especially when a lot of these films can be got for 3 for 5 nights rentals in rental stores or 3 for £20 deals at HMV, by the time they arrive on Sky Movies.
Dixons in West Quay Southampton has an LG 60inch HD Plasma on display at the front of the store. The quality is amazing. Looks like its running a demo from a Blu-Ray disc or something.
The TV was for sale as well.. only £7000 !
Ben.