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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Latest update removing dev mode

Originally by JaBuzzard: (Post 1 page 49)

 

SeeMoreDigital wrote:
What???

A NOW TV branded box retails at just £15. 00. The Roku boxes cost signi��cantly more! Somebodies
taking a hit for the differences!

Yes Roku are not making a pro��t. There is a large difference between zero pro��t and a subsidy. The bill
of materials for a NowTV box is most likely well under £15, and my bet is most of the NowTV boxes sold
are not the £15 ones either , because wait a bit and you can get one with a pass for the same amount of
money or even less, to the point where people who never sideloaded anything have draw fulls of the
boxes, because even an offer of £20 for a box with a 3 month entertainment pass (and there have been
lots of better offers) is cheaper than buying three months of passes which would cost you £21 and you
get a spare remote too.

 

Originally by Wufflebonk: (Post 2 Page 49)

 

jabuzzard wrote:
SeeMoreDigital wrote:
What???

A NOW TV branded box retails at just £15. 00. The Roku boxes cost signi��cantly more!
Somebodies taking a hit for the differences!

Yes Roku are not making a pro��t. There is a large difference between zero pro��t and a subsidy. The
bill of materials for a NowTV box is most likely well under £15, and my bet is most of the NowTV
boxes sold are not the £15 ones either , because wait a bit and you can get one with a pass for the
same amount of money or even less, to the point where people who never sideloaded anything
have draw fulls of the boxes, because even an offer of £20 for a box with a 3 month entertainment
pass (and there have been lots of better offers) is cheaper than buying three months of passes
which would cost you £21 and you get a spare remote too.

I'll let you carry on with this one 🙂

I'm busy doing other things....

Besides I see @SeeMoreDigital and co have gotten out the vinyl's again... damn they must be so
scratched and broken now the amount of times they've been played. I think Violins are probably all but
worn out too...

 

Originally by ukbobboy:

 

@SeeMoreDigital

Hi again SMD

Unfortunately, your answer shows that you have made an assumption based on another assumption,
i.e. if a Roku 3 retail cost £70. 00 and a NowTV black box is £15. 00 then someone is loosing out
somewhere.

However , my experience is somewhat different, remember when video VHS recorder , way back when,
cost on average £400. 00 retail. Did you know that they only cost £71. 00 to manufacture, package and
ship from Japan to the UK, the additional costs were mainly just "mark-up", i.e. what the market will
bear .

Since retail economics has not changed since then, just the products sold, I would suggest you rethink
your "highly subsidised" mantra, unless you can prove otherwise.


UK Bob

 

Originally by 4268:

 

@ukbobboy have you considered that there is such a thing as a loss leader .

 

Originally by Eddie-M (NowTV Team):

 

Hi @Anonymous User


Thanks for raising your concerns to us here on the Community, In relation to what a Now TV agent has
said about Plex being illegal your correct it is not however the content available to use with in Plex and
other Apps like it can be seen as illegal and therefore puts Now TV in a difficult position with Studios
and Record companies and therefore the decision was made to remove the Dev Mode which enabled
the ability to install Plex via Sideloading due to Plex not being available in the Now TV app store. Also if
apps are being used via the Now T v box that are not available in the App store provided and are
installed by other means i.e Sideloading then Now TV have the right to remove that functionallity if we
wish to do so. If your complaint relates to official apps in the app store available via the Now TV box
then please do raise those concerns with us and we will do what we can can to rectify them. However if
it only relates to an app not offically available on the Now TV box then we cannot do anything further
and there would be no legal basis for us to put that function back as it is against our terms of use. I
hope this clears it up for you and if you have any further questions please do ask away and we will do
our best to answer or at least get the answer for you.


Thanks
Eddie

 

Originally by DessieB:

 

Hi Eddie,

I wonder if you could take a moment to explain how customers using Plex on a NOW TV box puts Now
TV in a difficult position with Studios and Record companies, but Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku
all provide Plex for their Streaming boxes and Google provide Plex for android TV boxes without this
putting them in a difficult position with Studios and Record companies?

Thanks
DessieB

 

Originally by Eddie-M (Official NowTV Team)

 

Hi @Anonymous User

This would come down to legal notices Now TV have received and therefore have had to remove the
fuction due to some Customers using Plex to watch Pirated Content. So the Dev Mode has been
disabled to prevent Pirated content in the future which in turn has disabled Plex which again can be
used to access Content which can be seen as illegal. This is the steps we found nessecerry to take to
prevent this from happening. If others have not done this then we cannot speak for them we feel this
was the best step to take.


Cheers

 

Originally by DessieB

 

Hi Eddie,

So are you suggesting that Apple, Amazon, Roku and Google have not received similar legal notices, or
that they have received similar notices but have chosen to ignore them?

DessieB

 

Originally by Eddie-M (Official NowTV Team):

 

No at all @Anonymous User


I'm not suggesting anything of the sort. I am telling you what Now TV have received and what we have
done to rectify it if other companies have recieved the same notices then i'm sure they are taking the
Steps nessecerry to rectify that however we at Now TV are not privy to that information and therefore
cannot discuss what other companies intend to do if anything or if they have recieved the same
notices we can only discuss what Now TV have recieved and what we have done to ��x it. At the end of
the day Plex is not an offical app in the App store via the Now TV box therefore Now TV have no
legal obligation to provide that app and therefore can remove any means of accessing it.


Cheers

 

Originally by MattPenfold:

 

Eddie-M wrote:
Hi @Anonymous User


Thanks for raising your concerns to us here on the Community, In relation to what a Now TV agent
has said about Plex being illegal your correct it is not however the content available to use with in
Plex and other Apps like it can be seen as illegal and therefore puts Now TV in a difficult position
with Studios and Record companies and therefore the decision was made to remove the Dev Mode
which enabled the ability to install Plex via Sideloading due to Plex not being available in the Now
TV app store. Also if apps are being used via the Now T v box that are not available in the App store
provided and are installed by other means i.e Sideloading then Now TV have the right to remove
that functionallity if we wish to do so. If your complaint relates to official apps in the app store
available via the Now TV box then please do raise those concerns with us and we will do what we
can can to rectify them. However if it only relates to an app not offically available on the Now TV box
then we cannot do anything further and there would be no legal basis for us to put that function
back as it is against our terms of use. I hope this clears it up for you and if you have any further
questions please do ask away and we will do our best to answer or at least get the answer for you.


Thanks
Eddie
So why was I told Plex is illegal Eddie? You admit is untrue, yet that did not stop your colleagues from
say Plex is illegal software. What do you intend to do about their lack of honesty?

You claim you have the right to remove side-loaded apps, but you failed to offer any evidence you have
that right. Since you offered no evidence I can dismiss your claim you have that rigjt as baseless. You
have a choice. You can either offer that evidence, or accept you lied to me.

 

Originally by MattPenfold: (Post 1 on page 50)

 

Eddie,
You have admitted that Not TV altered my box. The law, in the form of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 is
clear in this regard. Unless you can show Now TV were authorized to access my box and make
alterations NOW TV have committed a criminal offence under Section 35 of that act. It is possible that
Now TV could be considered to have committed an offence under Section 37 , if there was intend to
impair use of the computer . A Section 35 offence carries a maximum sentence of 2 years
imprisonment, and a Section 37 offence carries a maximum of 10 years. Both offences can also carry
an unlimited Ƭne.
So you can only claim that Now TV have not comitted an offence under either Section 35 or 37 if you
can show you had authorisation to access my Now TV box. If you cannot do so, you will be admitting
that NOW TV commited a criminal offence.

 

Originally by WuffleBonk: (Post 2 on page 50)

 

@Anonymous User from NowTV, I think there's an age old addidge here that relates to Digging holes and knowing
when to stop 😄

From what I can see, your just not doing ANYTHING to help here, except making up what looks like
semi plausible explanations and hoping that we'll all buy into it.

I have to tip my hat and give you points for trying though. As myself and my co-conspiritors have
recently discovered, we can actually use the official, authourized apps that ARE in the NowTV store,
and pre installed on the box, INCLUDING YOUR VERY OWN NOWTV APP , to play ANY CONTENT we
want, including pirated content should we so wish, I wonder what the recording industry and
music/movie producers that sent NowTV those cease and desist plex letters would do if they found out
about that fact???

I think you'd be forced to remove your own apps, and every official app from the box, IF what your
trying to spin to us all, is actually true....

 

 

 

 

 

188 REPLIES 188
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Can you put Plex on a chromecast ??? Thought you could only cast to it though a phone, tablet etc if you already got a chromecast all good but if you spend a bit more money maybe get a Roku stick and have more options i.e. You don't have to relie on a phone etc, ain't got one myself had a chromecast lying about so use that, plus most my TVs have the app
Anonymous User
Not applicable

MattPenfold you are completely correct. Side loading was a function which was present at the time of purchase and was removed without prior warning or notification - unlike wafflebong I actually know what I am talking about.

 

Yes, strictly speaking they have acted against the interests of the consumer BUT this is such a low value item that even if you went down the route of a Class Action Lawsuit you would be awarded pence in compensation upon successfully legally challenging NOW, this would also cost you £25k in legal fees to prepare and bring the case against them. So sadly it is a case of whilst they are in the wrong, no-one is likely to challenge them.

 

I havent seen it reported elsewhere BUT the smart boxes also started to get hit last night and have side loading plus any side loaded apps removed from them so that functionality has now been removed across all models.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

im sure that if now tv own the firmware but you own the device they still need your permission to update your device with there firmware including any changes to the device operation. you must allow the update not wake up to find the update took place without your permission.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User wrote:
im sure that if now tv own the firmware but you own the device they still need your permission to update your device with there firmware including any changes to the device operation. you must allow the update not wake up to find the update took place without your permission.

Correct. It is why Microsoft, or Apple, must get permission to update your PC.  You do not own the software, but they cannot update the software on a computer you own with permission. 

Anyone who has ever set up a PC is the last few years will have noticed they get asked quite explicitly how updates should be done. You can choose to have them done automatically, or just be informed about the updates. The key bit is that you are being asked to make a deliberate decision. This is because MS, Apple, and others understand UK and EU law, and know that is what is required. 

Now TV is seems do not. That they still have been able to offer a definitive explanation suggests they know they if they do they will admitting to breaking the law. I am sure if they had nothing to hide they would be more than happy to explain themselves. 

Now I am coming at this from an IT background, where I was expected to have an understanding of the law. I have more than once had to draw up guidelines on computer missue, and those guidelines were praised by the solcititers who checked them. So have some idea what I am talking about. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User

 

What PC have you set up recently that gives you the option of updates? (I assume its an old version of Windows)

 

Windows 10 on the PC does not give you an option, updates are mandatory, you can delay them if you have the Pro version, but you cannot officially stop them, with the Home verion you have no options, you get the updates when they are released

 

Xbox One does the same, you cannot stop the updates, just search for Snap removed, many are complaining that MS removed this features without options to keep it

 

Updates for the above are all done in the background, exactly the same as Now do with the NowTV box

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Type in Services in windows 10 search box. Scroll down to Windows Update and change to disable Job done. No more updates unless you allow it.

I am also currently looking into disabling Now TV Updates as I have some older unused boxes. Will update if I start to get anywhere. 

ukbobboy
Legend

@Anonymous User @Anonymous User

 

Hi Matt

 

I just had a word with Ofcom and was advised that as this was a commercial decision made by Sky/NowTV the next step would be to contact the following:

 

Communications Ombudsman Services

 

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/communications/contact-us

 

However, if this does not work out then the next step would be to contact

 

Citizens Advice Bureau

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk

 

for independent legal advice.

 

 

UK Bob

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@ukbobboy wrote:

@Anonymous User @Anonymous User

 

Hi Matt

 

I just had a word with Ofcom and was advised that as this was a commercial decision made by Sky/NowTV the next step would be to contact the following:

 

Communications Ombudsman Services

 

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/communications/contact-us

 

However, if this does not work out then the next step would be to contact

 

Citizens Advice Bureau

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk

 

for independent legal advice.

 

 

UK Bob

 


 

As I said previously given that unauthorized modification of a computing device is a criminal offence under the computer missuse act then the next step is to report the crime to the police.

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Last night I talked to someone in online chat called Tibbin. He (or she) promised I would get a reply to a complaint I sent to Now TV on the 29th March within 24 hours. 

I have not had a reply. I have tried to get hold of Tibbin via online chat, but I cannot speak to him (or her). Is it usual for Now TV staff to make promises they do not keep, and then when they need to be held to account for what they did, to be unavailible? 

Does Now TV consider lying to be acceptable? 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

My last post got deleted before anyone from Now TV told me how I could get hold of Tibbin.  

I still have not had a reply to an email I sent on 29th March, other than emails saying I will hear back shortly. I was promised an reply by this evening. This turned out to be a lie, because no reply has been sent. 

I have tried getting hold of Tibbin via online chat, but was told he was in today. Yet he told me he was on duty this evening. So someone is not telling me the truth. Do Now TV not think their staff have to do what they say they will do?