Sky announces the death of the satellite dish - Sky Glass
Discussion
I have been saying for a few years that Sky will be delivered purely via internet soon, and it seems to be finally happening. The satellite dish and set top box are being killed off.
The cost saving of not having to replace the existing Astra satellites, or install satellite dishes on homes, must be absolutely massive.
Say hello to 'Sky Glass'...
But, there is a catch: Sky are going with the idea of "You have to buy our TV with Sky built in" Very odd!
Surely they will start offering Sky to 'normal' smart Tv's at some point via an App or dongle, but Sky say not!
Buy yours here apparently: https://www.sky.com/glass
A Betamax moment?
https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/sky-satellite-...
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/7/22714076/sky-gl...
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-a...
The cost saving of not having to replace the existing Astra satellites, or install satellite dishes on homes, must be absolutely massive.
Say hello to 'Sky Glass'...
But, there is a catch: Sky are going with the idea of "You have to buy our TV with Sky built in" Very odd!
Surely they will start offering Sky to 'normal' smart Tv's at some point via an App or dongle, but Sky say not!
Buy yours here apparently: https://www.sky.com/glass
A Betamax moment?
https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/sky-satellite-...
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/7/22714076/sky-gl...
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-a...
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 7th October 16:19
Radec said:
Yeah I can't see how this will take off without some sort of app or dongle for regular TV's.
No one's buying another TV just to watch Sky.
At least I won't lose signal in heavy rain and snow anymore if they decide to go the streaming route.
The 'Sky Glass TV' is pretty ugly. It appears to be a metal mesh construction and about 2 inches thick.No one's buying another TV just to watch Sky.
At least I won't lose signal in heavy rain and snow anymore if they decide to go the streaming route.
Not for me, and I imagine that most people already have a couple of TV's they are perfectly happy with.
Why Sky wish to get involved in producing and supplying TV's is beyond me. Surely they would be better offering Sky as a Netflix style app for smart TV's or a dongle for standard TV's.
It would be fascinating to hear the business logic behind getting into making TVs. That’s a conscious choice, someone had to propose it and had to convince the board it was the smart choice for the future of the company.
Considering they already have the universally available NowTV service, they could have just expanded that a little bit whilst pocketing the savings from retiring the satellite service.
If the pricing is including the TV and the service it seems quite reasonable but I’m not sure how many people would be excited about renting a new telly as a combo deal to get their Sky, when they probably already have a perfectly good telly if they’re interested enough in TV to still be keen on paying for Sky.
Note the TV itself doesn’t do anything special, it’s the “puck” device that it seems acts like any other dongle, but is only available with the telly. Expect to see the TVs retired in 12 months and the dongle carry on solo.
Considering they already have the universally available NowTV service, they could have just expanded that a little bit whilst pocketing the savings from retiring the satellite service.
If the pricing is including the TV and the service it seems quite reasonable but I’m not sure how many people would be excited about renting a new telly as a combo deal to get their Sky, when they probably already have a perfectly good telly if they’re interested enough in TV to still be keen on paying for Sky.
Note the TV itself doesn’t do anything special, it’s the “puck” device that it seems acts like any other dongle, but is only available with the telly. Expect to see the TVs retired in 12 months and the dongle carry on solo.
Venturist said:
It would be fascinating to hear the business logic behind getting into making TVs. That’s a conscious choice, someone had to propose it and had to convince the board it was the smart choice for the future of the company.
Considering they already have the universally available NowTV service, they could have just expanded that a little bit whilst pocketing the savings from retiring the satellite service.
If the pricing is including the TV and the service it seems quite reasonable but I’m not sure how many people would be excited about renting a new telly as a combo deal to get their Sky, when they probably already have a perfectly good telly if they’re interested enough in TV to still be keen on paying for Sky.
Note the TV itself doesn’t do anything special, it’s the “puck” device that it seems acts like any other dongle, but is only available with the telly. Expect to see the TVs retired in 12 months and the dongle carry on solo.
It is all a bit confusing.Considering they already have the universally available NowTV service, they could have just expanded that a little bit whilst pocketing the savings from retiring the satellite service.
If the pricing is including the TV and the service it seems quite reasonable but I’m not sure how many people would be excited about renting a new telly as a combo deal to get their Sky, when they probably already have a perfectly good telly if they’re interested enough in TV to still be keen on paying for Sky.
Note the TV itself doesn’t do anything special, it’s the “puck” device that it seems acts like any other dongle, but is only available with the telly. Expect to see the TVs retired in 12 months and the dongle carry on solo.
It appears that you pay £34 a month for the £55 inch TV, and then £26 on top for the Sky subscription, making it £60 per month.
Or is the Sky subscription included in the TV price? It is as clear as mud.
Have Sky just become the 2021 version of Radio Rentals?
Pricing from Sky here:
https://www.sky.com/glass/technical-specifications...
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 7th October 13:18
So i would need to replace 4 tv's (I assume there's are Samsung as they use quantum dot tech) and i need a 35mbps connect for ultra HD or 10mbps for standard HD, given i'm with Sky at the moment for broadband then there would need to be investment in broadband as the most we can receive is 3mbps. BT just don't appear to have the connections available.
If it comes down to buying a TV i will ditch sky.
If it comes down to buying a TV i will ditch sky.
Not sure that people want dedicated hardware, seems a big misstep. A bit like thinking people want a TV like that. Or that they want 'voice first' controls. Build an app and get the customer supplying the hardware and save money that way. I suspect it's probably their encryption fetish doing them in.
Also not convinced they'd really dump the dish - quite apart from it not being purely for their stuff if you're talking multi channel broadcast vs on demand then doing it over IP isn't exactly free and requires a lot of kit too with significant scaling costs (cloud and peering/embedded deployments); a satellite costs the same regardless of audience scale and you get to charge people to share it.
Also not convinced they'd really dump the dish - quite apart from it not being purely for their stuff if you're talking multi channel broadcast vs on demand then doing it over IP isn't exactly free and requires a lot of kit too with significant scaling costs (cloud and peering/embedded deployments); a satellite costs the same regardless of audience scale and you get to charge people to share it.
ChocolateFrog said:
The TV itself looks like it should be in Curry's circa 2005.
Oh they've painted it different colours, edgy.
It is hideous. Oh they've painted it different colours, edgy.
I also agree with your other post, that this idea has 'fail' written all over it.
If they had built a Sky app for use on Smart TV's, or released a Sky dongle for plugging into any tv or projector, then yes, I could see that Idea being a smash hit. No more set top box, no dish, and no new TV's required.
Venturist said:
It would be fascinating to hear the business logic behind getting into making TVs. That’s a conscious choice, someone had to propose it and had to convince the board it was the smart choice for the future of the company.
Considering they already have the universally available NowTV service, they could have just expanded that a little bit whilst pocketing the savings from retiring the satellite service.
If the pricing is including the TV and the service it seems quite reasonable but I’m not sure how many people would be excited about renting a new telly as a combo deal to get their Sky, when they probably already have a perfectly good telly if they’re interested enough in TV to still be keen on paying for Sky.
Note the TV itself doesn’t do anything special, it’s the “puck” device that it seems acts like any other dongle, but is only available with the telly. Expect to see the TVs retired in 12 months and the dongle carry on solo.
The rumour was that Sky was going to merge Now with Q when they went 'dishless'. Considering they already have the universally available NowTV service, they could have just expanded that a little bit whilst pocketing the savings from retiring the satellite service.
If the pricing is including the TV and the service it seems quite reasonable but I’m not sure how many people would be excited about renting a new telly as a combo deal to get their Sky, when they probably already have a perfectly good telly if they’re interested enough in TV to still be keen on paying for Sky.
Note the TV itself doesn’t do anything special, it’s the “puck” device that it seems acts like any other dongle, but is only available with the telly. Expect to see the TVs retired in 12 months and the dongle carry on solo.
Sky would have a few problems to deal with doing that. Consumer surveys typically show that few Sky (or virgin for that matter) customers actually watch that much premium programming anymore, still spending most of their time gawping at channels that are on freeview or whatever that's called now. A situation only made worse by the big streaming services taking back their biggest shows from the likes of Sky Atlantic (I know it's called something else now) for their own platforms. Look at any of the 'biggest TV Shows of 2021' lists online and the majority of them are either on BBC/ITV, or Netflix, Disney+/Starz or Prime.
https://www.telltalesonline.com/27957/popular-tv-s... there's 2 or 3 possibly that Sky have exclusive rights to in the UK in the top 50 that I can see?
The only real exception in the UK is HBO, legacy stuff like The Sopranos / The Wire people love to watch over and over and current stuff like Billions, Sky pretty much has exclusive rights to that in the UK... until HBO Max launches, possibly mid-2022.
Sports is the obvious exception, but with Netflix sniffing around F1 rights, Sky might not be able to keep their monopoly much longer.
Sky's real MSP, if customers are honest, is still Sky+, a single, user friendly portal that contains all the broadcast channels in one place, and well, yes recording them, but that's really starting to feel a bit 20th Century now, especially to younger consumers. Again, this is being eroded slightly by the streamers not being on it.
By leasing their customers the TV (instead of a set-top box) they can continue to keep them on the contract merry-go-round. A lot of Sky customers are very loyal and will lap it up, but I think they're older people, for who, Satellite TV, even without the Satellite is exotic.
I do wonder if this is a last ditch defence for Sky, at least as they are now. They're revamping most of their channels, of which frankly there are few, spreading them out, and moving them around like deckchairs on the Titanic
Edited by P-Jay on Thursday 7th October 13:47
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