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Anonymous User
Not applicable

End of Now maybe in sight

With Sky announcing this evening that the Sky Glass Puck is going to be available standalone later this year. I think it could mean that Now is on it's way out as at that point i'm not really sure what the benefit of Now will be over Sky Glass neither has a contract length. Yes Glass it's a buggy system at moment but it will be patched and lets be honest Now is a janky system depending on method you view it. But Glass is likely to be expanded on as time goes on i'm not sure Now will be. 

 

Unless they are going be charging like £200 for the Puck which I can't see them being able to do I think this will be my last year on the Now system. 

 

What are everyones thoughts on this development?

29 REPLIES 29
gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User 

Not at all, in my opinion I can see NOW soon being Sky branded channels only along with Peacock.

 

When Paramount+ launches I can see both MTV and Comedy Central leaving. 
Then at some point both Gold and National Geographic leaving too.

 

My hope is that there is some membership consolidation like a combined entertainment, cinema and sports as one. Obviously pricing would be key. 
Bare in mind this is just my thoughts. However when Discovery+ launched we ended up losing Discovery channel so it makes sense for Paramount to pull MTV and Comedy Central if they did. 

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@gavs82008 

 

Yes that could happen but would make the Sky Glass Puck even more interesting to me as Sky Movies is meant to include a Paramount Plus Membership on Sky Q/Glass. Not sure on Gold but it could leave I agree though dear. 

 

Maybe I should clarify but I like the idea of a Sky Glass Box which I can buy and just have a near full Sky Q Experience without a contract the only reason I have Now is at the moment it's the only way i can get Sky Atlantic and Sky Sports. It would be nice to have all the other channels that we don't get on Now as well.

 

@redchiz1

 

They only missing things are the Quantum Dot Display and Dolby Atmos 360 [They class built in bits to the TV as Sky Glass experience] as they are built into the TV else you get the full Sky Glass Experience but you could get those with a soundbar and a better quality Display. 

SweetBlitz
Expert 3

I doubt Now will disappear in next 5 years and I doubt satellite dishes will disappear in next 10 years.  The biggest issue with Sky over internet is lag on live sports.  The only way to counter this is cable, satellite or aerial.

 

Sky’s content has been disappearing in recent times with Disney and Amazon taking lots of rights.  I suspect that at some point in next few months with the cost of living crisis leading to a lot of cancelled subscriptions, Cinema and Entertainment will merge to provide direct competition to Netflix, Prime and Disney.   The main device for watching these channels on TV these days are the Fire Sticks  and there is no way that Sky/Now will make the same mistake of having their own proprietary hardware and lose out to all the other streamers.

 

I don’t see Sport merging with Cinema and Entertainment as it is where the profit comes from for Now TV. And few who just have Now TV for programming other than Sport won’t pay for it.  With Amazon the sport is a loss leader and generally the trials cover it.  Netflix and Disney don’t do sport. Yet.

redchiz1
Champion 2

@SweetBlitz wrote:

The main device for watching these channels on TV these days are the Fire Sticks 


That's an interesting claim, I have sometimes wondered what market share was like by device, what is your source?

SweetBlitz
Expert 3

Anecdotal and some guesswork.  Now sticks and boxes are no longer on sale and Roku take up in UK is low.  Fire sticks are more common than chromecast.  Even the host apps on TVs don’t always support Now TV as well as they could.

Also they get top billing on https://help.nowtv.com/article/what-devices-can-i-use-to-watch-now

 

I would guesstimate Fire sticks account for over 30% of the devices use to watch Now on a TV, but I don’t have the figures.  And it seems to be the choice of many forum members.

 

 

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

There is a small section in this linked article (ignore the title heading) that BT have a deal in place for Sky to provide them the NOW service for up to 2030 and beyond.

 

Though i suppose Sky could take over the operation and support of NOW App software on BT Youview Boxes or drop the App support and only provide live linear channels via the BT TV Guide if NOW disappears.

 

My gut feeling is NOW is not going anywhere in the short / mid term.

 

https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/bt-sport-eurosport-combined-service/ 

RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

The Sky Puck is the internal gubbins of Sky Glass without the actual ‘Glass’ - the TV - so Sky can sell the service to people who want to keep their existing TVs.

 

The main differentiators of this from Sky Q are that it comes over the internet, not over a dish, doesn’t offer terrestrial channels and doesn’t record.

 

I don’t see anywhere that it is going to be on anything other than a long term (1 year and up) contract, with the various Sky bundles offered.

 

So the differentiator from Now will remain the Now contract-free month-to-month sales structure.

 

I think you are conjecturing that the Puck might have a contract-free sales structure for content; but even if it did, it would just put itself in contention with Roku devices and Amazon Fire devices, to say nothing of putting Sky, if Now didn’t run the Pucks, in direct contention with Now, rather than in the current oblique contention.

 

The Puck stand-alone is just to broaden Sky’s market for its Glass UI; it might impact Now a very little, and perhaps not at all, but it certainly won’t impact it a whole lot.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@RoyB 

 

If you buy the Sky Glass TV Outright you can have a monthly contract for Entertainment Sports etc so why would they not do that for the Sky Glass standalone Puck it would be the same system. 

 

I don't think i'm being unrealistic there honestly I think Sky is clearly aiming itself to be content gatherer just look at their deals with Discovery, Apple, Disney and Paramount to bring there apps to there platform as come 2025 when they lose the HBO content they won't have any big Entertainment network or franchise anymore. 

 

So bearing that in mind I see it being very similar to Now

RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

I can see what a Sky Glass TV would be if you cancelled the monthly Sky subscription, but what would a Puck be able to do if you cancelled it? £10 a month (or more, probably, ongoing) for a box that couldn’t do as much as a Roku or Fire stick for a one-off price of 3 to 5 months equivalence, at best?

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.