The third quarter's results announced by Sky last week include some impressive growth on the HD front; up by 93,000 (almost 20%) to a total of 591,000. This may be put down to Sky dropping the one-off price of the box itself and partly explained by the attraction of the expanded HD channel line up, but either way it's a hugely impressive performance after the previous quarter's more modest gains.
If Sky HD sustains this growth through the final 2008 quarter (normally the best results of the year for both Sky and Virgin Media) then I think we'll have seen proof that a proper HD line up is no longer a niche specialist interest for the first adopter crowd but an essential pay TV service offering for the larger market.
Virgin Media's latest figures are published on Thursday. It'll be interesting to compare them with Sky's fine quarter.
5 comments:
Next quarter might be even more impressive Nialli as they dropped the price of the HD box to a mere £75 + free install. In fact the demand was so great, they have run out of boxes and folk are having to wait until December or later for their installation.
A shame they didn't get the new EPG ready, but hopefully that's not far away.
Glad to still have you with us Carol - feel free to email me any updates you want to give us on your Sky HD experience.
I'm expecting Virgin to improve HD services next year with a new V+ capable of Mpeg4 and a handful of HD channels - no Sky Sports or Movies, but maybe a selection of others. Pure speculation on my part but from what I've heard and read it's on the cards.
There are several rumours in the Sky+ HD forums on Digital Spy that the new EPG might be ready some time this month. Not that I spend all evening looking at the EPG, but if it is an improvement, then it will be welcomed.
I actually like the VM EPG and find the current Sky one quite dated (my Freeview ones are better). Ever seen the Verizon one in the US? That IS an EPG you could watch all evening!
I am making the switch to Sky next week, the EPG may look good on VM but its slow and stops to often.
Sky HD is the only way to go for HD content Virgins is dismal
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