back to article Sky fattens up broadband subs as it hovers above Fox's open mouth

Sky increased its number of broadband subscribers by 140,000 to more than six million households in the first six months of its financial year. The business also announced it will launch a Sky TV service in the UK without the need for a satellite dish "opening up the full Sky TV service to millions of customers who either …

  1. WonkoTheSane
    Facepalm

    Sky about to LOSE TV subscribers!

    They've had a falling out with Discovery over fees, and may stop showing any of Discovery's channels (including Eurosport) from Wednesday 1st Feb.

    ONLY Sky is affected by this, Virgin & BT viewers will still be able to watch.

    Maybe if Sky only used the "Sports Pack" subs to pay for football, instead of blowing the whole wad on it...

    Full story here:- http://uk.businessinsider.com/discovery-in-extraordinary-row-with-sky-2017-1

  2. SwiffedIT

    You can subtract 1 from that number

    Had the pleasure of cancelling my Sky subscription earlier this week. It felt good.

    Not giving Rupert Murdoch any more money than I need to.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: You can subtract 1 from that number

      Well done, however some of us never gave him any money at all.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: You can subtract 1 from that number

        Bring on Leveson 2.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You can subtract 1 from that number

      And another - I've been humming and hawing about ditching Sky Fibre for a while and finally bit the bullet a couple of days ago.

      One less customer for Sky, one more for Zen Internet.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Mouth of Hell ?

    Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate!

    1. Thought About IT

      Re: The Mouth of Hell ?

      I abandoned all hope when Trump won.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder how this streamed service will affect Sky broadband's contention ratios.

    Will my internet go shit when my neighbourhood puts Corrie on ? Or are they planning on multicasting?

    1. Ynox

      I'd be very, very surprised if it's unicast.

      Traditional linear TV used to always be multicasted when I worked on (a few) IPTV projects a few years ago.

      I'm interested in seeing what the product is. Nothing still beats a satellite really for multicasting large amounts of data though!

  5. s. pam Silver badge
    Headmaster

    Screw Sky...and Murdoch!

    Dumped them years ago as their fees were extortionist! Their Broadband is no better than any other DSL as it's on the old Post Office network for the last mile and we all know how reliable that isn't.

    Got Virgin for Broadband only and a Freesat box + Netflix, £5.99/month we save £100 a month...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Screw Sky...and Murdoch!

      Got Virgin for Broadband only and a Freesat box + Netflix, £5.99/month

      so you pay 5.99 a month for all that?

      where do I sign, virgin charge me £12.99 for just the BB bit

  6. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

    The business also announced it will launch a Sky TV service in the UK without the need for a satellite dish

    Doesn't Sky already have "Now TV" for that? Is this just a rebranding exercise?

    1. WonkoTheSane

      NowTV is a subset of Sky's channels, the article seems to suggest all Sky channels will be streamable.

      More info here:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38756577

  7. IHateWearingATie
    Unhappy

    Only game in town

    Sky is the only game in town if you want to watch all the F1 races, and the only (legal) option for any live race from 2019 :(

    On the plus side I got the channel thrown in for free when it started so I don't have to pay for the rest of Sky Sports

    1. BenDwire Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: Only game in town

      I ditched F1 and Sky when it was 'sold off' to them by the Beeb. Given that it was becoming a fiasco anyway it was no great loss and I regained my weekends!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Only game in town

      Absolutely true; even if I only got fined for consuming illegal content I would lose my job, and it would make it difficult to get another one.

      I want to watch GoT, Fortitude, The Tunnel, and various other UK & US shows when they come out, as well as live coverage of England cricket, England & Lions rugby, and the half of the European Champions Cup that isn't on BT Sport. Plus F1 and the Ryder Cup.

      What LEGAL option do I have apart from Sky, pray?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Only game in town

        "I want to watch GoT, Fortitude, The Tunnel, and various other UK & US shows when they come out, as well as live coverage of England cricket, England & Lions rugby, and the half of the European Champions Cup that isn't on BT Sport. Plus F1 and the Ryder Cup."

        You should probably get out more.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: You should probably get out more.

          Why? I'm in my 50s, crippled by arthritis in one leg, and have always enjoyed watching sport. When I'm not in too much pain I go to County cricket matches in the summer and my local Premiership rugby team in the winter. I have enjoyed watching, and playing, sport for much of my life, but realistically it something I have to do from home now.

          I also enjoy quality drama, and there's a lot of that about these days.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: You should probably get out more.

            Oh woe is you...

    3. King Jack

      Re: Only game in town

      In a fair society exclusive lockout would be illegal. Sky will never see any money from me no matter what they do.

    4. JimboSmith Silver badge

      Re: Only game in town

      Why not just do what I do and watch German RTL TV on Astra 19.2 * where all the races are free to air (with adverts). For the commentary then you will need a DAB radio (DAB does have one use) which has sufficient delay to match up with the pictures. This is perfectly legal and don't believe it if anyone tells you otherwise.

      *You can do this with a correctly positioned sky mini dish and a free to air receiver. If you want to use this and still get signals from 28 degrees East you can do it with a monoblock.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh woe is you...

  9. Ynox

    On a different note - I wonder how this will pan out for Sky's content agreements. Certain stuff (e.g. The Simpsons) they only have rights to for satellite broadcast if I remember right. Guess they've been renegotiating!

    1. paulf

      Not to mention they only have the rights to transmit stuff in the UK (certainly WRT Premiership rights, but likely most other content also) while offering streaming across Europe seems to be the intention.

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