For nearly three decades, the first place viewers could get films to watch at
home was the local video shop. Dominated by BlockBuster, these were the
libraries where movie buffs could get their education. Today, however, much
larger stores are available for anyone to watch almost anything instantly
online, on smart TVs and on phones and iPads, and this week BlockBuster
slipped barely noticed into administration. It just couldn’t take the
tablets.
In a pointed demonstration of what went wrong, TV giant Sky today reveals that
its own, new download service will launch this week. With 3million people
already using its Sky Go service to watch programmes on tablets and phones,
now up to four users for every one of its 11million subscribers will be able
to download films and TV to watch wherever and whenever they want thanks to
Sky Go Extra. That means the only place you can now download the latest new
Hollywood movies, all the Bond films, Harry Potter and countless more TV
shows online in the UK is via Sky.
Luke Bradley-Jones, brand director of TV products at Sky, says that it’s
commuters and families eager to entertain their children that have driven
massive growth in the existing service’s popularity. “We’re adding hundreds
of thousands of users a month,” he claims. “And it’s in the last six months
that it’s become well known and rapidly adopted.”
Thanks to Sky’s grip on new movie rights, Sky Go Extra immediately puts
intense pressure on much-vaunted video-on-demand services such as Netflix
and Amazon’s Lovefilm. While Lovefilm may have a huge archive of older films
and Netflix specialises in TV, neither has Sky’s catalogue of the latest
Hollywood films.
Key to the growing rivalry between such services is the difficulty in getting
access to content. Film distribution remains thoroughly stuck in a model
that sees new releases first in cinemas, then on aeroplanes, followed by
pay-per-view, then subscription and free TV services. Netflix has, for
instance, been reduced to bidding for individual titles – as a result it
will show The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey first, after it closes in
cinemas – but Sky’s catalogue of the newest releases remains far deeper. And
while it is hard to see that many people would sign up to Netflix just for
The Hobbit, it is also trying to increase its range of unique programmes:
the remake of the classic House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey, for
instance, will be a Netflix exclusive from February 1.
