Pay TV phase three document - Stakeholders - Ofcom

Pay TV phase three document – non-confidential version
4.282 In the Second Pay TV Consultation we examined results of surveys, both
commissioned by Ofcom and supplied to us by stakeholders on consumers’
preferences for premium movie packages. Surveys such as these can help identify
which products might be relatively close substitutes for premium movie channels. We
found that Sky Movies subscribers particularly valued access to a large quantity of
recent films in their film packages.
4.283 For example one of our own surveys revealed that a significant proportion of pricesensitive
movie subscribers considered access to a range of films (81%), films on at
all times (70%) and access to new movies (68%), as either ‘nice to have’ or ‘must
have’ features of their package 216 . This suggests that older library movies (or nonmovie
content) found on FTA or basic-tier TV are likely to be a less good substitute
for the consumers who value access to new movies. We also found that 57% of
price-sensitive subscribers consider the ability to pay monthly a useful feature of their
package 217 .
4.284 A survey carried out for Virgin Media asked consumers which genre of content they
would consider paying more than their current subscription. ‘New’ movies was the
most popular movie genre for both Virgin Media and Sky subscribers (cited by [ �
]% and [ � ]% of subscribers on each platform). This was significantly above ‘classic
movies’, cited by only [ � ]% of subscribers on both cable and Sky 218 .
4.285 Internal research supplied to us by Sky 219 , (used when considering how to package
its movie channels), noted that although consumers were often not aware of the
windowing of films, the “key is premieres … all international [movie channel] offerings
have a channel offering the most recent titles”.
Responses to our consultation
4.286 Sky agreed with Ofcom that it was “axiomatic” that consumers value a given film
more the closer it is to release 220 . Sky commented that film windows had changed
citing for example:
“the period between a film’s theatrical release and its home video
release has halved from around 6 months to 3 months making DVDs
more attractive to consumers.
The period between home video and PPV release has fallen even
more dramatically: the typical period is now 45 days … whereas in
2000 it was 160 to 180 days. “
4.287 Sky notes that as the PPV window moves closer to the theatrical release it is likely to
become more attractive relative to Sky Movies.
216
Full details of the analysis of preferences are found in Ofcom’s Second Pay TV Consultation,
Annex 6.
217 See Ofcom’s September 2008 consultation Appendix 7 of Annex 6.
218 Virgin Media response to information request of 15 May 2007[ � ].
219 Sky’s third response to Ofcom’s questions of 29 May 2008, [ � ].
220 Sky response to Our September 2008 consultation Annex 3 paragraph 2.2.
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