Will 4K ever come to Now TV?

[TheKLF99]

Is Now TV ever going to get 4K - think it's one big fat joke of Sky how they still charge "extra" for the privilege of watching films in HD - HD has been like the standard resolution of most other broadcasters for about 10 years - but Now TV try and squeeze that extra bit of profit out of Now TV by charging £5 extra just for HD.  Bit laughable really when other rivals like Netflix and Amazon are offering HD as standard and 4K as  a premium product - seems Sky/Now is a bit of a dinosaur - apart from the amount of films included in the subscription that no-one else has - that seems to be the only thing that's keeping them going.

[redchiz1]

For the umpteenth time, Netflix offer only 720p on their Basic and Standard Plans, the same streaming quality as NOW without the Boost. For 1080p full HD you have to upgrade to Standard at £10.99 a month, for 4K it's Premium at £15.99.

[TheKLF99]

Yeah the point I was making is the fact you can pay Netflix £15.99 a month for 4K premium - an extra £5 (and HD is included with the 'Standard' package) but with Now TV their 'Standard' offering is non-HD (same as Netflix Basic) and their 'Premium' is only HD - no option to pay like a '4K Premium' to get 4K which in this day and age seems quite behind the times - but then I do remember Sky have always been late with their ideas - when Dolby Digital first came out The Simpsons kept putting on 'In Dolby Digital (Where Available) at the bottom and you could actually listen to The Simpsons in Dolby Digital on Channel 4 (if you had an av receiver) years before Sky got round to activating the SPDIF sockets on the old Sky boxes - even though the SPDIF socket was there and they could have just turned it on at any time.  It seems they deliberatly try and keep the UK a few years behind technology when it comes to premium TV and yet, apart from the Beeb (and even the Beeb offers 4K on some things like Attenborough's Planet Earth), they're probably the biggest subscription TV company in the UK. 

[gavs82008]

@TheKLF99 

720p is HD, just not full HD like 1080p. 

Also I agree 100% we shouldn't have to pay more considering the full retail price of the memberships with NOW.

[SweetBlitz]

Unlikely Now TV will have 4K as Sky would prefer people to buy dishes or Sky glass.  

Never paid £5/month for boost, as there is often an offer like a free month with cinema/entertainment/sport.

Not sure the films keep them going as Netflix, Disney, Paramount and Amazon have big catalogues and I find I have already watched many of the new movies on Sky either at the cinema or a paid stream.  For me, sport and entertainment are key.

[redchiz1]

Except when you might want to watch some oldies and NOW throw a £1 Cinema offer at you. 😉

Wait for that from Netflix ....

[SweetBlitz]

Always happy to take the £1/month cinema offers, especially coming up to Yuletide.  However, there are far fewer decent festive movies this year.  No Die Hard, no Miracle on 34th Street, no Home Alone, all gone to Disney plus.  But Now Cinema does have Elf which is definitely worth a quid.

[gavs82008]

@SweetBlitz 

Nice wording for including Die Hard there 😉 although I always call it a Christmas movie. More so now as it really annoyed the Mrs 🤣

[SweetBlitz]

@gavs82008 Die Hard and Die Hard 2 are proper festive movies.  Also missing from Sky this year are It’s A Wonderful Life (on Freevee, so ads at totally unexpected points) , Planes, Trains & Automobiles (on Paramount Plus, though strictly speaking it is thanksgiving) and worst of all, Jingle All The Way.

However, Scrooged and Krampus are on Now, so happy days!

Last year’s list…

Christmas on Sky Cinema 2021

[Saint1976 · Accepted solution]

Maybe, maybe not. Sky indicated last year that 4k HDR and Dolby ATMOS would be coming to Now but without a timeline.

https://www.pocket-lint.com/tv/news/now-tv/156945-sky-s-now-plans-include-4k-hdr-as-part-of-boost-ad...

The complication is Sky's implementation of Sky Stream, so would they have 2 systems offering pretty much the same thing under 2 different brands? I doubt it. Keeping Now free of bells and whistles gives Sky the opportunity to upsell to their premium product. For some customers, the leap between the two products isn't that far.

As for your suggestion that the only thing keeping Now going is a catalogue of films others don't have, you've completely missed the cash cow that is live sports. 

[redchiz1]

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@Saint1976 wrote:

For some customers, the leap between the two products isn't that far. 

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Interesting you say that. I had a "courtesy call" from Sky yesterday offering me an "unbeatable" broadband and TV deal. Sadly it wasn't. My current ISP offers a much better deal for broadband. And the cheapest offer for Sky Q was £18 a month for Entertainment. And then £18 extra for Sports. I didn't enquire about Cinema. So that leap was way too far for me. 

[TheKLF99]

Yeah didnt really think of sports as I don't really watch sport myself but even still can you imagine if Now offered Sports in 4K too.

Also yeah Sky Stream I guess is similar but Now TV doesn't get you to sign a full 12-month contract to get the product like Sky do (and most other streaming companies offer TV add ons as rolling 1 month contracts rather than locking people into 12 month contracts - the 12 month contracts used to work when you got something out of it - like when you took a 12-month contract with Sky years ago at the end of the 12 months the Sky+HD box was yours to keep if you cancelled and it would just revert to a Freesat box, or when you sign a 12/24-month mobile phone contract you might be given a 'free' phone but with Sky Streaming, Sky Glass or Sky Q - there really is no incentive to sign a long term contract because if you cancel the contract after the minimum period they come out and returns the Sky Q box or Sky Glass TV - so you're not really getting anything for signing such a long contract. 

[Saint1976]

@TheKLF99 Sky Glass and Sky Stream are available on 1 month rolling terms/contact free. The equipment is also yours as you pay for the TV or box upfront.