Feasibility Study of a Digital Platform for the delivery of UK ... - BFI

UK FILM COUNCIL
BSkyB
On-demand offering
BSkyB’s primary on-demand offering is currently the Sky Box Office NVoD service delivered via satellite. The service has gradually
reduced the number of channels offered, from 85 to 60, doubtless because the revenue generated by on-demand transactions (£58m on
movies in 2005) could not justify the costs of transponders to service it.
Sky offers 210 movies a year on the Sky Box Office service, each priced at £2.99. Being NVoD, there is no rewind or pause functions, but
in combination with the Sky Plus PVR set-top, a virtual VoD experience is achievable. Sky Plus viewers can download movies to their
hard-disks to watch at their leisure with full video-on-demand functionality during the 24-hour viewing window. The ‘rental’ period for a
stored movie begins only when the viewer starts to watch.
In addition to its PVR strategy, Sky is also getting heavily involved in the broadband space. Later this year, it is to launch a Sky Movies
broadband download service operating initially in the pay TV window as a no-cost extra for Sky movies premium service. Sky has made
clear its intention to ultimately operate in the VoD window as well. Sky claims to have re-negotiated three of its movie deals on terms
which allow it ‘greater flexibility in the way it sells movies’, content owners have confirmed that Sky is attempting to acquire all electronic
rights to its movies. The three studios that have re-negotiated—Fox and two others—are likely to be joined by the other majors in the
near future. Warner Bros has confirmed that it has not yet joined the Sky Broadband service due to window and cost issues, but added
that it expects to do so in the next six to nine months.
The current offer by BSkyB to acquire unbundled broadband service provider Easynet points to an even greater involvement in the
broadband space in the near future which could ultimately see a hybrid satellite/DSL set-top or PVR providing true video-on-demand
capabilities combined with a home media server functionality. More support is given to the home media server theory by the fact that
BSkyB has now brought the price of its larger 160Gbyte PVR in line with the smaller model, dropping the price from £399 to £199.
BSkyB subscriber forecasts and Sky Plus homes
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
000s 000s 000s 000s 000s 000s 000s 000s 000s 000s
DTH subscribers 5,051 5,716 6,562 7,208 7,609 8,005 8,325 8,591 8,797 8,947
Sky Plus PVR subscribers 11 65 250 642 1,201 1,582 1,890 2,199 2,684
Source: Screen Digest
Feasibility Study for a Digital Platform for the delivery of Independent UK films and Specialised films to the Home
UK Film Council © 2006
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