Sky

We've noticed of late our Sky bill coming in at around Euro 70 a month. We take movies, sport and kids. As we've said before this is a substantial sum of money, surely around x 4 as expensive as a license fee. The problem is that a license fee goes into programming whereas a Sky subscription goes into profit.

We're not Sky-knockers but last night we were struck by that feeling that Sky, like the terrestrial channels, didn't have a whole lot going on. In fact we ended up watching a movie on RTE. I wonder how many people around Ireland and the UK are sitting there like us moaning because there's nothing to watch?

In the case of the BBC or RTE you can complain, there are rep groups for viewers. Sky does operate a viewer panel run by research group TNS:

"People who decide to join the Sky Viewer Panel are a select group of Sky digital subscribers across the country that have all given permission for Sky to collect viewing information from their set-top boxes."

So that's market research rather than interacting with customers. And as well there is a website that facilitates people who want to develop interactive services for SKY. To date though we haven't found anything like a viewers council or a user-generated response to Sky policies.

For such a dominant organisation we seem to have let it unusually free to influence our culture. Anyone interested in changing that?

SKY Sharing

I was at an IPTV demo a year ago looking at the Microsoft Media centre and one of the notable benefits of their system was the ability to share content and viewing with buddies elsewhere. That thought cropped up on this blog referring to a dinner talk on connectivity:

"He (Ankesh of Grouptivity) believes TIVO (Sky Plus for us) .... is a good example of the immediacy of content and now users expect to get the content they require when and how they want it.

His view is that although there are huge amounts of content available nowadays people just ignore that that they don’t want and therefore content recommended by a friend or network is preferable."

I think that kind of recommender culture is on its way and very important. The entertainment these days is not in the content it is in the connectivity.

Setanta Sadness

We have an ongoing issue trying to cancel our Setanta subscription on Sky Plus. We phoned and were told we had to phone back when the cancellation department was open. We said no - we're telling you, we cancel. And we're not paying any more fees - we were told we would have the credit controllers after us and we'd be blacklisted.

We e-mailed and got an e-mail back saying we can't cancel by e-mail - even though you can subscribe online. We phoned again and after a half hour wait for the cancellation department they hung up on us. We phones Sky and asked them to deal with it - but they say they can't. Right now Setanta is not a company I would recommend and I repeat my plea to Sky to police their suppliers a lot better than they currently do.

Tipping Points for SKY Plus

This is US news but very relevant to Sky Plus viewers. Note - DVR = Digital Video recorder, just like the Sky Plus box.

"For the TV networks — who sell more than $9 billion in prime-time commercial spots each year — the really bad news is that when DVR penetration reaches 50 percent marketers are going to start cutting their spending."

The expectation in the USA is that when DVR penetration reaches 50% ad spending will be cut by 12%.

What that really means of course is that the growing popularity of digital video recorders will have the effect of reducing ad supported television programmes. Any SKY Plus viewer is used to going with the flow but does this mean tougher programme budgets ahead or more event-type subscriptions (Sky Sports and Sky Box office) for us?

SKY Plus Holds the Ground

The Sky Plus box is Sky's not so secret saviour. Back in February the company announced that the recorder is now driving subscriptions. But, we ask, are there other areas Sky might look to for continued customer loyalty?

"The device," reports The Telegraph, "which allows viewers to pause live television and skip ad breaks, is now in 3.1m Sky homes, an increase of 434,000 over three months, the company will announce at its half-year results.

Customer numbers grew by 323,000 in the previous quarter - and the number of homes with Sky recorders is almost equal to the 3.5m subscribers that take Virgin Media's cable TV service."

The big news last year of course was Sky dropping the £10 monthly subs on the box and it turns out to be very good indeed for the broadcaster.

As subscriber numbers begin to flatten though, we wonder where Sky will go with its customer service policies. Our recent experience with Setanta on Sky has been abysmal but as yet there is not recourse within the Sky system for us to complain about a channel's obnoxious customer service attitudes.

We'd suggest there's an important and neglected role here for Sky to police the system with a light hand, making suggestions to the channels it carries to protect the good name of a l the channels. And t4o keep the customer happy.

TV in De Background

I've gotten into the habit of listening to Sky news while I scroll through the Sky text news. My kids are capable of talking to me while texting. While they Bebo, they IM and they also do their homework. Do they multitask? Do they ever?

So findings that say kids actually want to be involved in games related to TV shows strike me as wishful thinking. No it is not a Sky initiative but Channel 4. Programmes as games? bad call.

So reports the Guardian: "Janey Turner, head of education at Channel 4, says the adjustment is a bid to "find new and effective ways to better connect with 14-19 year olds. To be successful, we have to live in their world."

The evidence is though that kids do still watch a lot of TV. "Thinkbox, the commercial TV marketing body, has released a report called The Secret Lives of Students, which found anecdotal evidence that students watch a lot more TV after they leave home - mainly a diet of daytime fodder, including many soaps and cult viewing such as Peep Show and Shipwrecked."

"Nevertheless, Channel 4 is switching its education budget away from producing TV shown during the mornings, when the target audience of 14- to 19-year-olds are not watching TV. Instead, it is emphasising cross-media programme development: commissions that combine online communities with TV shows, as well as introducing gaming elements and so on."

What we find in our household is that the children sit and watch the television when they are with us. As with so many aspects of their behaviour, from coughing to reading, our influence is critical. If we want to sit quietly and watch a TV programme at least one child will join us.

Rather than pursue a mythical childhood need to immerse themselves in TV brands (wishful thinking) the radical channel might think more about how families behave.

Sky One vs BBC One

Two holes in our viewing. The loss first of Sky One's Ross Kemp in Afghanistan and BBC One's Tropic of Capricorn. You can see we don't much go for the Britain's Boozy Weekend type TV, nor Big Brother, nor American Idol (yes we are secret Hell's Kitchen fans).

Kemp's Afghanistan on Sky One until recently was a model of documentary TV making. The man went and spent time with the troops and that meant in battle as well as in theatre. Let's remember Kemp is a well known actor rather than a journalist trying to make a name for himself.

What were the highlights? None stand out but that's because the series was well told from start to finish.

Simon Reeve's Tropic of Capricorn had a similar feel - I mean lived in and real. Reeve last night wandered through Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil which is a long way to go even in a travel documentary. But he managed to bring home one or two messages - much of the forest of Paraguay for example is now destroyed to make way for Soy Beans.

Soy has an undeserved reputation as an essential food - high in protein and highly adaptable. But that's another story.

Two truth come out of these programmes.

One engaging person without the aid of false drama, artificially imposed deadlines, and unreal motivation can tell a good story well. The second truth is equally important.

There are some things that really matter - why people are fighting in Afghanistan, why the forests continue to be ripped up. In their own way they are dramatic enough without tv's current predisposition to ramp up the drama.

Low key is highly effective too.