Now TV boxes ‘flying off the shelf’, says Sky

BSkyB’s recently launched Now TV boxes are “flying off the shelf like hot cakes and we are well ahead of where we expected to be,” according to Luke Bradley-Jones, product director TV.

Speaking at the OTTtv World Summit in London, Bradley-Jones declined to give specific numbers. However, he said that the Now TV service, Sky’s OTT offering, is targeted at different market segment than the main Sky offering.

He said that the recently launched Now TV entertainment package with catch-up channels is a “different package” than offered as part of the main Sky offering. Bradley-Jones said the two appealed to “very different segments and appeal to two very different needs. We aren’t seeing any type of overlap there.”

On Sky’s recent decision to cut the price of the service, Bradley-Jones said that the operator would continue to experiment with different price points to meet what it sees as the needs of the market, and that he did not believe there is a danger of cannibalising the subscriber base of the “full fat” Sky service.

“We are continuing to evolve the pricing – I think our pricing will continue to evolve as we go forwards,” said Bradley-Jones. “We want to make sure they two services are complementary. There has been incredibly little spin-down from the main Sky service to Now TV.”

Bradley-Jones said that, going forwards, Sky is focusing on getting as many customers as possible connected to the internet. “Having a truly connected service…is where you see shifts [of subscribers away] from operators that haven’t evolved at the same rate, and increasing spend from key segments of the market,” he said.

He said that BSkyB is the fastest growing connected TV service in the UK, with the number of connected boxes rising 260% in a year and Sky Go mobile TV subscriptions rising 18%.

Bradley-Jones said that Sky is taking its Sky Go mobile TV service forwards by adding new channels and by moving to ensure that all customers will have access to the service. “We want to make sure we are the OTT aggregator of choice for our customers,” said Bradley Jones. “In terms of how we package Sky Go, we are focused on making it a core part of the Sky experience, much as we have done with Sky+. We will, over the next 12-18 months, make it ubiquitous for our customers.”

Bradley-Jones said that Sky Store, Sky’s rental service had seen a million customers using the service in the last quarter, while Sky Go Extra, allowing viewers to download to watch offline for £5 (€5.97) a month, had 385,000 subs by the end of September.