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SweetBlitz
Expert 3

Should Cinema & Entertainment merge?

Given Amazon, Netflix and now Disney plus provide both movies and TV shows as part of the main subscription, should Now TV follow suit?

 

Now TV at rack prices is £22/month for both, whereas top tier Netflix is £14/month.  Amazon is currently £79/annum and Disney plus just £60/annum (£80/annum from 23 Feb when Star comes online).  

 

Given that all 4 services will have to depend mainly on their back catalogue for the next year or so, a Now TV pass covering cinema and entertainment in the £10-£15/month range would be somewhat competitive.  

 

As it stands, I am unlikely to renew Cinema when it expires in mid-February having already ditched Entertainment back in mid January.  I have Amazon as much for the other benefits and have had Netflix, but am very tempted by £60 for a year of Disney plus just for the new Star content.


Will keep the Sports pass running until end of football season, but Cinema and Entertainment are not the draw they used to be as separate subscriptions.  Time for change?

16 REPLIES 16
Anonymous User
Not applicable

I see what you mean I'm just not sure it will ever change on NowTV because it is similar on the full Sky Q platform.

SweetBlitz
Expert 3

To get Cinema + Entertainment + HD is £25/month with Now TV.

Netflix is £14/month with UHD

Prime is £79/annum with UHD approx £6.50/month

Disney £60/annum with UHD approx £5/month

 

so Now TV is about the same cost as the other 3 combined without offers.  Might have been justifiable with more new movies and TV series, but not so much anymore.

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Remember all the others come with added value benefits that Now TV just doesn’t have, like Amazon will deliver stuff to you next day, Disney have content, Netflix have quality. All three stream 4K and Dolby Atmos.

 

if Now TV marketing team think they are providing “good value for money” perhaps they need a new marketing team who don’t have their heads buried in the sand.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I wonder if it is the same marketing team that are telling us “Sky Cinema just got even better”. Well, I suppose it can’t get any worse. They need to wake up and smell what their shovelling!

ukbobboy
Legend

@Anonymous User  @SweetBlitz  @Anonymous User 

 

Should cinema and entertainment merge?  Emphatically no, they should not merge.

 

Simply because the cinema films now on offer are of a very lack lustre quality, so much so that I stopped watching Now TV films in March 2020, and I've seen nothing since to change my mind.

 

Personally, both my son and I buy BluRay and DVD disks which, I feel, tend to be more economical in both time and money.

 

Finally, for me, if these two passes were ever joined, and that was the only option for customers, I would cancel my account and seek my online streaming entertainment from one of the other providers.

 

 

UK Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

SweetBlitz
Expert 3

Amazon will deliver stuff to you next day, Disney have content, Netflix have quality. All three stream 4K and Dolby Atmos.

 

You also get 2 million music  tracks to stream with Amazon along with books and magazines.  And football & tennis.  For me, it is a no brainer.  Amazon is constant , the rest are discretionary.  Now Cinema & Entertainment used to have the content, but having seen pretty much all of it, and very little on the horizon, I will just keep Sports.

ukbobboy
Legend

@SweetBlitz 

 

Yes SB

 

The benefits of being an Amazon Prime customer/member, which I did almost by accident, and it is a strong incentive to stay with that membership.  Whereas Now TV's incentive has all but come to an end, i.e. vouchers/passes.

 

 

UK Bob

 

SweetBlitz
Expert 3

 Now TV's incentive has all but come to an end, i.e. vouchers/passes.

 

@ukbobboy 

 

It is odd that at the point the streaming market is getting more competitive (add BritBox which costs me £3/month at the moment), Now TV seems to have taken the approach of maximising income at the risk of losing custom.  I had a few passes in my stored area that I got with Black Friday sticks, so lack of offers is simply made me use these.   All that remains are 4 sports passes of varying lengths. 

 

It is also interesting that Now TV sticks have been out of stock for months on end.  A sign that the investment has ceased and the harvesting has begun?

 

For me, Entertainment is only Sky Atlantic as I get the other channels thrown in with my Virgin TV pack.  With vouchers/offers in 2020 I got it for £3.50/per month which is about right for me.  £10/month is simply not worth it.

 

In 2020, I paid £1/month or £4/month for Cinema (along with a couple of free months via email offer).  The loss of various studios due to Disney and the lack of new movies in upcoming months makes £12/month seem pretty expensive, especially when I have a pretty decent catalogue of old movies to watch on Amazon, and a pretty tempting offer of £5/month on Disney plus with Star, if I pay £60 for the whole year before 22 Feb.


I will stick with Now TV for the sport (especially as I have 4 passes with 7 months of sports in my saved area) but there are plenty of alternatives for the Cinema/Entertainment pound.  

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Merging Cinema with Entertainment would probably be a no from me, for me it's Entertainment all the way, never really been a big film fan (don't know why, probably my poor attention span can only cope with smaller TV chunks rather than movie epics??), so if they joined them up for some increased cost I think that would put me off.  Although, with all my previously purchased Entertainment Gift Cards running out in the coming months with the effect of then continuing into the future with full-price Entertainment maybe some merged offering at a little extra cost might be more appealing value wise????


I've never really considered adding any other streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video to my viewing routine as I do watch a fair amount via my Now TV Entertainment Pass and that's probably enough to be getting on with......I think I get good value from my Now TV experience and probably still would when the gift cards run out, but I can see the day coming soon when the number of shows I watch start to end and other shows get picked up on other services and my use of Now TV Entertainment starts to get less and less.


Although I did say Now TV Entertainment was enough for me, I have started to have a slight hankering for trying something new and I think Amazon Prime might just be the one for some new TV and all those other benefits folks have mentioned.......I'm really just swithering whether Prime Video would be best on the Apps I currently have on my Now TV Stick / BT Youview Box or whether I should invest in a Fire TV Stick or Cube???