Sky Glass

[ZedLeg]

But a TV itself isn't something people have rented since Radio Rentals died

not entirely true, the likes of Brighthouse were still gouging skint folk for shite appliances up until recently.

[Jobbo]

But a TV itself isn't something people have rented since Radio Rentals died

not entirely true, the likes of Brighthouse were still gouging skint folk for shite appliances up until recently.

Wasn't that Hire Purchase with a ridiculous APR? So not straight rental.

ETA: even if it was, you're right - renting a tv does seem still to be a thing: https://www.google.com/search?q=renting+tv
Is that really the market Sky are aiming at? Straight into the homes of the poorest in society.

[ZedLeg]

I think it's an experiment in what the limits of subscription models will hold.

Millenials and younger people tend to poll quite favourably towards paying subs for stuff over buying outright but I'm not sure if this the right thing. I don't think the people who would sub for a TV would be the same people who sign up for a Sky Contract.

[Jobbo]

Subscriptions work for services; not sure they work so well for physical products unless they're updated really regularly (like iPhones) and are cutting edge.

[Mito Man]

I’ve had time to have a more in depth read about it. So it doesn’t need a satellite dish at all (I assumed it would still have an input for the coax cable) so it’s purely streaming Sky. Nice but why can’t I just save a grand and get a dongle which does all that which I can then stick it into my Yamaha amp and existing 4K tv?!

My second irk is that it actually seems to be delivered and “unboxed” for you. Maybe it requires some element of installation or maybe that’s just to satisfy the 70+ age bracket but for me it just means you won’t be able to get next day delivery as it’s something else to book in and wait for someone to turn up…

[V8Granite]

Won’t this be yet another electronic appliance that people MUST UPGRADE when anything better comes out and just create more waste ?

How long do people keep televisions for now ?

Dave!

[Delphi]

To clarify, you don't rent the TV. Once you've paid for it, it's yours and you stop paying the monthly fee for the TV part. There's also a separate "Puck" available that you can use to turn an existing TV into a Sky Glass (e.g. in your bedroom), but that's currently only available if you take at least one Sky Glass unit (similar to the Sky Q mini-boxes currently).

There's also a motion-sensing camera going to be available next year which will allow video-calling and Peloton-style services.

The display is QLED which makes me think the display panels are Samsungs.

[scotta]

Built in sound irks me a bit. So basically if its shit then well its shit and you cant do anything about it.

But i sppose you get what you pay for. You cant expect seat shaking bass and detailed surround from a grands worth of telly.

[V8Granite]

To clarify, you don't rent the TV. Once you've paid for it, it's yours and you stop paying the monthly fee for the TV part.

So the mobile contract set up everyone is already used to.

Dave!

[Delphi]

Built in sound irks me a bit. So basically if its shit then well its shit and you cant do anything about it.

But i sppose you get what you pay for. You cant expect seat shaking bass and detailed surround from a grands worth of telly.

A couple of people I work with are on the staff trial and say the sound is excellent. It's one of the reasons it's much thicker than a standard TV. There is a team of people down in Brentwood that went to some ridiculous lengths to tune the sound output (like analysing the sound of a football being kicked over and over again).

Also, if you cancel your Sky subscription, it'll still function perfectly well as a TV.

[Jobbo]

Also, if you cancel your Sky subscription, it'll still function perfectly well as a TV.

Do you have to continue renting it in those circumstances?

I still don't get it, I'm afraid. Basically Sky are making a telly, in competition with Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic et al who update their TVs every year and whose products are getting cheaper all the time; why bother?

[Swervin_Mervin]

Your rivals at the Beeb did an admirable job trying to sell the concept this morning for you! It still skirted around the issue of why not just buy a normal TV and stream content though.

Well, I say that, but to be fair they did seem to suggest that it might fare in the market of old giffers who struggle to understand how all the streaming service work etc., including how difficult it is to setup iPlayer - I nearly choked on my Shredded Wheat when the Beeb correspondent said that!

However, IME, they won't be watching Sky anway. They'll just continue to watch regular broadcast TV. I can't believe there's a huge market out there of existing Sky-watching old folks that get confused by streaming services.

[Gavster]

Having a screen tied to a platform has worked perfectly well for Apple with the iMac over the last 20 years, and I suspect the majority of consumers would love to have all of their different media platforms in one place, because they'll enjoy anything that de-clutters and saves them from thinking. If the user experience is genuinely brilliant, then it's a premium product from a market leader which has definitely got legs.

The subscription model for the hardware is basically a very smooth marketing device, because what they're actually doing is providing a credit service under the guise of a subs model, which allows people to upgrade to the latest tech for less than the price of a takeaway each month. That in itself will hook a huge amount of customers.

[Rich B]

Having a screen tied to a platform has worked perfectly well for Apple with the iMac over the last 20 years, and I suspect the majority of consumers would love to have all of their different media platforms in one place, because they'll enjoy anything that de-clutters and saves them from thinking. If the user experience is genuinely brilliant, then it's a premium product from a market leader which has definitely got legs.

The subscription model for the hardware is basically a very smooth marketing device, because what they're actually doing is providing a credit service under the guise of a subs model, which allows people to upgrade to the latest tech for less than the price of a takeaway each month. That in itself will hook a huge amount of customers.

This.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Having a screen tied to a platform has worked perfectly well for Apple with the iMac over the last 20 years, and I suspect the majority of consumers would love to have all of their different media platforms in one place, because they'll enjoy anything that de-clutters and saves them from thinking. If the user experience is genuinely brilliant, then it's a premium product from a market leader which has definitely got legs.

But how is that any different from any other smart TV? Why not just turn Now into the Sky streaming platform, and forget about creating your own version of something that already exists?

[Jobbo]

Having a screen tied to a platform has worked perfectly well for Apple with the iMac over the last 20 years

Perhaps 20 years ago this would have been a good idea.

[Gavster]

Having a screen tied to a platform has worked perfectly well for Apple with the iMac over the last 20 years, and I suspect the majority of consumers would love to have all of their different media platforms in one place, because they'll enjoy anything that de-clutters and saves them from thinking. If the user experience is genuinely brilliant, then it's a premium product from a market leader which has definitely got legs.

But how is that any different from any other smart TV? Why not just turn Now into the Sky streaming platform, and forget about creating your own version of something that already exists?

Because doing it their way and creating their own premium version of something that already exists and leveraging proven adoption is a very safe and tested way to create products and therefore make money. They already know people like Smart TVs so they're simply making it for their platform and providing a credit mechanism that allows people to adopt it. It's pretty simple product development and marketing. One of the most naive assumptions people make is that successful new products need to be original, which is total bs. Being original is high risk and big corps don't like that.

[Mito Man]

Delphi mentioned that there’s already a dongle which will plug into the back of a tv and basically make it like the Sky TV, but you need the Sky TV to get the dongle. That’s what is a bit silly, why can’t they just sell the dongle as a stand-alone product.
4K tv’s have been out for so long that many people already have one, maybe if they were to launch this with an 8k tv and some 8k streams channels then you’d bother changing the whole tv for it.

[mik]

My mate has Sky, and advised his wife he also wanted to get netflix and Amazon. She told him no - sky’s the limit.

[Rich B]

It's like everything that Sky do - they make it just enough temptingly priced that people think "it's only another £xx a month and we can have a nice new tv". Then 2 years later, they change all the tariffs and you suddenly find yourself paying £150 a month for what you originally had for £60.

They're very good at being Cunts.