Sky out to beat rivals in online TV race

Photo / Paul Estcourt

Sky Television has made its next push in expanding its dominance of TV content with a new online service.

But it is still waiting for the country's biggest internet service providers - Telecom and TelstraClear - to join the party.

Yesterday it started its iSky service that delivers Sky subscribers five live streaming channels (two news and three sports) online and 375 catch-up TV episodes on 20 channels.

The catch-up channels include the Documentary Channel, Living Channel, History Channel, Disney Channel, Comedy Central, UKTV and Prime TV.

They will work in a similar way to TVNZ's Ondemand service. So if Sky subscribers miss a favourite show - say Top Gear - they can watch it later on their computers for free.

The channels will be at least seven days behind their live TV counterparts but that will vary according to licensing deals with shows.

Content will be available on PCs before migrating to other platforms such as Sony's PlayStation.

Sky subscribers will also be able to download pay-per-view movies, with iSky aiming to offer 1500 movies within six months.

The service will begin with 850 episodes of pay-per-view TV, increasing to 5500 within six months.

Sky was yesterday highlighting the free services but the key for iSky will be online pay-per-view, allowing Sky to maintain large libraries of movies and TV series.

Prices range from $6.99 for a new release movie, to $4.99 for older titles and $2.99 per TV episode.

While initially aimed at existing subscribers, next year Sky will offer a pay service to other viewers - ensuring it retains its growth in market share while new competitors emerge.

Sky has been involved in internet TV in the past.

But Sky Online collapsed because broadband speeds were so slow and downloads of movies and shows used a lot of bandwidth.

Internet service providers refused to offer unlimited broadband and consumers were hit with hefty bills when they went over their data caps.

Broadband uptake has improved and Sky has convinced some ISPs to offer uncapped broadband for its shows.

At the launch yesterday it had signed uncapped broadband deals with six providers, including Vodafone and Slingshot.

But despite long-running discussions Sky has yet to bring in the two biggest telcos - Telecom and TelstraClear.

Sky insisted yesterday that iSky would become a factor in the ISP market and they would have to join the offer to maintain market share.

Telecom is involved in the TiVo platform for downloadable content - but that has delivered poor financial returns.