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back to article Lovefilm, Netflix 'no competitive constraint' on Sky Movies

Sky has too much money and subscribers to be threatened by the likes of Lovefilm and Netflix, the telecoms and media watchdog Ofcom has said. "It does not appear to us that the current streaming VoD services offered by Lovefilm or Netflix are substitutes for Sky Movies," Ofcom said. "Rather than being substitutes for Sky …

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  1. Cosmo
    Pirate

    Tick tock.... time's running out for SKY

    I am a SKY subscriber, but not to Sky Movies or Sky Sports.

    However, there has to be a crossover point sometime in the near future where people start to realise that paying 20-odd quid a month for films is a massive waste of money.

    The streaming side of LoveFilm and Netflix isn't quite there yet with the film library and up-to-date releases, but I think eventually there will be enough momentum from the masses that Sky will have to have a massive rethink and slash their subscription costs.

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    1. aenimiac
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      Re: Tick tock.... time's running out for SKY

      £16 per month ;)

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: £16 per month ;)

        on top of the £20 basic package.. so you could say £36.. to watch films

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  2. Jad

    so BT want to buy movies cheap?

    Film Maker: That'll be $200,000 for "Film X" (or whatever price they want)

    BT: Ok, we'll offer you $90,000

    Film Maker (after shocked pause): come on it's a good film and Sky are willing to Pay $200,000 to get it before it's released on DVD.

    BT: if you don't sell it at $90,000 we'll go to Ofcom and say that Sky are uncompetitive.

    ...

    or maybe I'm reading it wrong.

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  3. jestersbro
    Devil

    It's not just the cost though...

    a big part of this problem for those of us who don't want to give $ky & Murdick any money is that Sky have completely sewn up the big Hollowood movies studios with excli$ive deals.

    I am an ex-Virgin Media employee and I still get a really good discount on my tv/broadband etc but if I added $ky movies/sport etc then I'd be paying around £100 per month and that is out of reach for me. How far out of reach is it for those of us not on a discount deal?

    I do subscribe to Netflix and watch it through the Xbox and it isn't super up to date but it does have a fairly decent back catalogue of films, documentaries and series that I would have otherwise bought. Seems like good value at a fiver a month. It'll be better when the monopoly gets broken as will Love Film, Virgin Media, BT and anyone else trying to give us a good deal.

    BREAK THE SWINE!!!!

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  4. aenimiac
    Facepalm

    I can see where they're coming from. Monopolies are never good. But if Ofcom step in and make them split the packages, as happens with Premier League football, then it's the consumer that loses.... Sky don't drop their prices for sport but the consumer now has to subscribe to Sky Sports AND ESPN to watch all the games.

    I can see a similar thing happening with movies. Sky will sign up exclusive deals with the most popular studios, keeping the better films for themselves, whilst Netflix and Lovefilm fight over the scraps (getting, say, 1 studio each). Sky keep their price the same as they have popular films, and the consumer now has to subscribe to Sky AND Lovefilm AND Netflix just to have the same choice as before.

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  5. DrXym

    Standard movie release cycle

    1. Cinema

    2. DVD / Blu Ray / Rental / Streaming

    3. Sky video on demand

    4. Sky / Cable TV movie channel

    5. Terrestrial TV

    6. Netflix / Lovefilm (apart from premium PPV stuff)

    Put 6 months between each step for a rough release schedule. I assume the movie property gets increasingly worthless as it goes through the stages so the cost of licensing goes down.

    I don't see how Netflix or Lovefilm can even compete with Sky in terms of movie releases. They'd have to pay more money to get stuff earlier or make their customers pay. Potentially they could compete better for domestic TV series though probably not for the US stuff.

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    1. Joseph Lord
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      Re: Standard movie release cycle

      Note that when stage 3 starts rental (PPV) streaming in 2 stops although purchase (like iTunes normally continues). Also note that stages 3/4 last more than 18 months typically and is basically an Sky exclusive time period and you start to understand the lock that they have on the market.

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