After more than eight months of delays - or more than eight years, if you take a wider view of various false starts - Sky TV is launching its new Sky Box today.
The Sky Box costs $200 upfront or instalments of $10 per month (plus $15 per
Sky TV reveals Sky Box loyalty discounts
Sky TV's new Sky Box.
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Customers will receive details of their personal discount, plus an invitation to upgrade, from today - although not all will receive an email straight away in what will be a staggered campaign.
The Sky Box supports 4K ultra high definition video and lets you install apps like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ (or indeed, any TV-compatible app on Google’s app store) and can record five channels at once to a hard drive that’s four times as roomy as the current decoder’s storage.
But if you have a smart TV (or a gadget like Google Chromecast or Apple TV attached), you’ll already have access to apps on your telly, and while the new box supports 4K, Sky has no immediate plans to broadcast or stream in 4K.
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In a recent Herald review of the new Sky Box it was found to take twice as long to change the channel (Sky says software fixes, delivered automatically, will spruce performance). And while it can fast forward and rewind at up to twice the speed, many will find the buttons harder to control.
The voice control (courtesy of Google) can be impressive. You can hit the mic button on the remote and ask the Sky Box to, say, open Netflix and play a specific show. But voice commands can’t be used for many features. (Read an extended review here).
Installation is designed to be DIY, but a technician can install the Sky Box if required, and there is also online and phone support (which Sky maintains will improve following a recent restructure that saw 170 local roles eliminated, but a net gain in support staff with the addition of a helpdesk based in Manila).
Sky has already released the smaller, $100-up-front Sky Pod, which lacks a hard drive for recording, and gets all of its Sky channels and streaming content via an internet connection (the Sky Box still requires a satellite dish).
Some early adopters told the Herald they’ve found the Pod temperamental and slow compared a Vodafone TV box (the first wave of Pods have all gone to former customers of Vodafone TV, shuttered on March 31, which offered Sky channels under a wholesale deal between the two companies).
TVNZ withholding its channels from the Pod’s TV Guide (livestreams of each can still be accessed via TVNZ+) is another bugbear.
In terms of those using the current Sky decoder, you can simply stay put. Sky says upgrading to the new hardware is voluntary.
The hardware discounts come at a time when the pay-TV broadcaster is finally, after years of decline, seeing an increase in revenue - thanks in part to price rises on some of its monthly content plans.
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At its half-year results briefing in February, Sky said its revenue for the six months to December 30, 2022 had increased 2 per cent to $379m.
That was partly down to Sky’s total number of customers crowning from 991,000 to 1.05 million over the period as a dip in Sky Box customers (from 530,000 to 517,000) was offset by a gain in people using its Neon and Sky Sport streaming services (which between them jumped from 436,000 to 506,000 customers.)
The price of Sky Sport was increased by $3 per month in March last year, with another $3 increase in March this year, against the backdrop of Spark Sport being vanquished, increasing costs for rights, and extra content in the form of Sky bringing the English Premier League, Formula 1 and the Rugby World Cup back on board.
Sky shares were up 0.8 per cent to $2.63 in late Tuesday trading. The stock is down 4.8 per cent over the past 12 months.
