Sevenoaks email to franchisees

[alistaln]

Just seen an email from Sevenoaks sent out to their franchisees. It stipulates that Sky will be seeding around 500 Sky HD demo boxes out to retailers by end of April, and each Sevenoaks store will get one of these from the 500 allocation. Stores can obviously immediately start demo'ing these to customers through April (assuming they receive their box before the end of the month) and continue demonstrations through May; however, availability to customers will be end of May in the channel itself.

Edit: In response to where it was seen - it was seen on the franchisee's PC that sits in their back room in their store, and was sent through to them from Sevenoaks' Head Office.

[mark800]

Sounds credible. So, Sky can claim they have a launch in Spring, but looks like there is very little chance that we'll all be watching the World Cup in HD.

[M-C-P-M]

Originally Posted by mark800

Sounds credible. So, Sky can claim they have a launch in Spring, but looks like there is very little chance that we'll all be watching the World Cup in HD.

Why do Sky treat their customers like crap!
They give us no information about the release!
They will charge the earth, for what in 18 months time they will be giving away!
and after all that the bloody will breakdown every other program!

It really makes me sick

[mjcairney]

Originally Posted by the_caretaker

Why do Sky treat their customers like crap!
They give us no information about the release!
They will charge the earth, for what in 18 months time they will be giving away!
and after all that the bloody will breakdown every other program!

It really makes me sick

My God - here we go again, ranting about things which may, or may not, be true.

Why not just wait until Sky make their announcements and then you will have something factual to comment about.

Cheers,

Martin.,

[daKlone]

Originally Posted by alistaln

Just seen an email from Sevenoaks sent out to their franchisees. It stipulates that Sky will be seeding around 500 Sky HD demo boxes out to retailers by end of April, and each Sevenoaks store will get one of these from the 500 allocation. Stores can obviously immediately start demo'ing these to customers through April (assuming they receive their box before the end of the month) and continue demonstrations through May; however, availability to customers will be end of May in the channel itself.

Edit: In response to where it was seen - it was seen on the franchisee's PC that sits in their back room in their store, and was sent through to them from Sevenoaks' Head Office.

Interesting. The timescale doesn't sound a million miles away from the snippets other people have posted, so perhaps it has some credibility.

Unfortunately I think it probably knocks the idea of a HD World Cup (from SkyHD) into a cocked hat

[blakey1]

Ive been assuming that the chances of seeing the world cup in HD via theSky HD box for most was unlikely. This thread just confirms what I thought.

I assume there will be a lucky few who may get their boxes in time but the majority will not.

I assume though that SKy may convince a few pubs to install it and people will be able to watch the demos in Comets plus the T drive may show it. thats if the BBC launch the trial channel by June and it includes the World Cup.

[mark800]

My expectation for having a box is about September, so it will be interesting to see if HD-DVD is out first. If so, I'll be buying that, and spending the £50+ I save per month on HD discs!

[rik1471]

These threads make me chuckle - seeing grown people get so annoyed at nothing. Lighten up - it's only high definition!

[barongreenback]

Originally Posted by the_caretaker

Why do Sky treat their customers like crap!
They give us no information about the release!
They will charge the earth, for what in 18 months time they will be giving away!
and after all that the bloody will breakdown every other program!

It really makes me sick

Sky are doing absolutely nothing wrong. They have only given a rough guidline on release dates but it's customer impatience that's causing all the ranting on these boards. Spring extends until 20th June for a start. Also, it makes good commercial sense for Sky to avoid letting specifics get out. Pricing is often decided at the last minute and who are we to speculate what technical issues arise during product testing? I honestly believe that Sky's customer service is not an issue here.

Finally, the fact that the price will drop is commercial reality. Those who bought plasmas 3 years ago, or even 1 year ago are in the same position. Same as anyone who has bought a computer in the last 20 years!!!

I'm sure like most businesses they work on economies of scale. Of course it will be expensive to begin with as the subscriber base will be small. THe upfront investment to supply every Sky customer with an HD box for free would be commercial suicide.

[jonhobbs]

Originally Posted by barongreenback

Sky are doing absolutely nothing wrong. They have only given a rough guidline on release dates but it's customer impatience that's causing all the ranting on these boards. Spring extends until 20th June for a start. Also, it makes good commercial sense for Sky to avoid letting specifics get out. Pricing is often decided at the last minute and who are we to speculate what technical issues arise during product testing? I honestly believe that Sky's customer service is not an issue here.

Finally, the fact that the price will drop is commercial reality. Those who bought plasmas 3 years ago, or even 1 year ago are in the same position. Same as anyone who has bought a computer in the last 20 years!!!

I'm sure like most businesses they work on economies of scale. Of course it will be expensive to begin with as the subscriber base will be small. THe upfront investment to supply every Sky customer with an HD box for free would be commercial suicide.

Spot on.

[mark800]

Originally Posted by barongreenback

Sky are doing absolutely nothing wrong.

Early adopters are getting frustrated because that's what a lot of early adopters do. Nothing wrong with that. If as a business you believe "customers are always right", then if some customers perceive you have done something wrong, then you HAVE done something wrong.

Personally, I prefer lots of information - whether it is good news or bad news. That's me. I'd rather know if the service is going to be late, than set my hopes on something that doesn't materialise.

Sure they may deliver in Spring, they may not, but the point is that I don't yet have the foggiest idea which it is.

[paul1967]

This what happens when theres no competion when the premier went to sky and if nobody watched it the price would have dropped also when it went pay per view if nobody had watched it it would be free or a lower price ,ie F1 proved that . what they are doing is dragging it out so when it comes , the public will pay a premium price , ie like they said its going to be a premium product. If the take is very small the price will crash to get the rating figures cause thats what its all about rating.

[choddo2006]

what they are doing is dragging it out so when it comes , the public will pay a premium price

Yeah, sure. That's exactly what's happening

[barongreenback]

Originally Posted by paul1967

This what happens when theres no competion when the premier went to sky and if nobody watched it the price would have dropped also when it went pay per view if nobody had watched it it would be free or a lower price ,ie F1 proved that . what they are doing is dragging it out so when it comes , the public will pay a premium price , ie like they said its going to be a premium product. If the take is very small the price will crash to get the rating figures cause thats what its all about rating.

The take up will be big because in the absence of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, most folks sitting at home will want to know exactly why they bought their big flat panel screen. I don't think anyone really cares that much about content at this stage, they just want to see a really sharp picture. Sure, in 6 months time then we'll have plenty of threads bemoaning the fact that Sky One's endless diet of Simpsons and Star Trek repeats don't have any benefit in HD but day 1, that doesn't matter.

Delaying the launch deliberately would not increase the price, in fact it would leave the market wide open for a competitor like Telewest to rush launch an inferior product. Hang on a minute...

Ratings has nothing to do with it in the early days. The amount of HD users for the first few months is going to be negligible as the ratings people aren't going to be able to get a decent representation of the HD viewing public for sampling purposes.

[Barthez]

I've not posted on these hd forums before but i do hope sky pull their finger out and get sky hd readily available as soon as possible. My friend works in an electrical retailer in nottingham and he says that they have had no word yet on them getting sky hi-def for demo purposes, i mentioned to him i read a possible launch date of early april and he thinks no chance what so-ever, his words were "End of May at the earliest", but take that with a pinch of salt as its only one persons opinion.