Is there a catch

[Renrag]

Note sky are now offering Sky+ box and installation for just £49. Are they being generous or is there a hidden agenda, like signing up as many as possible before introducing HD with a wopping upgrade fee ?? Any ideas ?

 

[Nick_UK]

I was told by a Sky rep that Sky are aiming to have 10 million subscribers by the end of their financial year. Looks good on the shareholders report. Each multi-room subscription is counted as two subscription.

 

[Starburst]

Each multi-room subscription is counted as two subscription.

Was he sure about that?
They do give seperate figures for the multiroom take up and if they are accurate then SKY DTH primary subscriber numbers are hovering around the 7.2 million.
It would also call into question the number of new subscribers added in the last quarter with 83,000 new subscribers (7.79million from 7.7mill) and 82,000 new multiroom subscribers so that would mean SKY only added 1000 totally brand new customers.

 

[Starburst]

Note sky are now offering Sky+ box and installation for just £49. Are they being generous or is there a hidden agenda, like signing up as many as possible before introducing HD with a wopping upgrade fee ?? Any ideas ?

SKY want to get SKY+ into as many homes as possible since the churn rate for SKY+ users is very very small and there is no doubt that the service greatly increases the "value" of the overall package.
Like all hardware the manufacturing costs have fallen over the years and all those savings have been passed on (SKY+ was £300 when launched) and no doubt SKY are willing to take a slight hit at retail price to get a household "hooked"

SKY HD will require a new STB and sub at £££ but all existing digiboxes and SKY+ units will continue to receive the same channel lineups as they do now there is no reason to upgrade to HD unless you really want to

 

[Nick_UK]

Was he sure about that?

Well, Sky people have been known to tell porkies

 

[Bluevanman]

I was told by a Sky rep that Sky are aiming to have 10 million subscribers by the end of their financial year.

The target is 10 million subscribers by year end 2010, not 2006.

 

[Nick_UK]

I stand corrected. Do you know what percentage of Sky subscribers have Sky+ ?

 

[Bluevanman]

I think it's currently around 10% and growing. I seem to be putting in more Sky+ than standard boxes these days.