I think that Sky's main focus for 2020 has been getting a link with Amazon so that on SkyQ box subscribers can get access to football from all UK sources. In that regard, they've succeeded. It's a big win. Not only do they have the football, they now have the NowTV app. on Amazon streaming kit, which makes sense given that they no longer (as I understand it) have any financial stake in Roku. The lack of NowTV hardware for sale on the NowTV website reinforces that to my mind. I'm not really sure what Amazon get out of this other than perhaps access to more subscribers, unless there's a Comcast deal of some sort that's also taken place in the US that they get value from. Sky's focus in getting the NowTV app. to newer Sony TVs would also, again to my mind, strengthen the argument that they're moving away from supporting their own hardware. If nothing else, it's a perfect excuse (see below) to deflect support issues -- "No, it's nothing to do with our excellent streaming service that never goes wrong. It's a problem with your kit/broadband provider".
Sky gets nothing from offering the NowTV app. on ATV kit, other than possibly a slight increase in subscriber numbers, but given the insult that it's levelled against all of those people who took part in the beta trials, it's clear that they just don't care. I can't see any further improvements in the NowTV app. on ATV kit surfacing. Perhaps there are some challenges with the platform. The BBC iPlayer app. still doesn't support sub-titles from what I can make out, but then again, that's another example of the level of contempt that the BBC holds its licence payers in -- 2021 nearly, and still no full HD or 5.1 audio from iPlayer.
I do wonder if Sky has bitten off more than it can chew. Reports earlier in this thread and on AVForums have mentioned appalling quality levels recently. Perhaps their servers can't keep up with the extra demand from users of Amazon hardware. Probably not though. I suspect that Sky has just dialled things back again just to see how many subscribers complain. If there's very little noise, they'll leave things as-is, but help themselves to as much as our cash as we're prepared to give them.
The big gotcha for lots of us is that Sky often has stuff that we want to see, and using NowTV, albeit at a [greatly] reduced quality level is something that many of us are seemingly happy to accept, me included, in lieu of having a SkyQ subscription. It still surprises me that so many people are happy to pay Sky great globs of money to watch a stream of ads. with bits of programming thrown in as a sop on their satellite boxes. The average US drama is ~40 minutes per episode on NowTV. On Sky, it's an hour, 20 minutes of the same old ads. with endless Sky promos. chucked in for good measure. That's the reason that I stopped being a Sky satellite customer over 25 years ago now -- nothing has changed. I did read somewhere that Sky was considering shoving ads. in NowTV streams. Recent stuff that I've watched from Sky Witness certainly has placeholders -- the Sky Witness banner, plus about 30 seconds of annoying muzak. If that were to happen, and I was subscribing (which I'm not at present, I cancelled my passes earlier this month) I'd cancel permanently.
Sky has a problem with content. It relies on a lot of US material, which given the pandemic, has pretty much dried-up. Perhaps that's another reason for getting the footie. Stuff that might be expected to appear will be a lot later, if it arrives at all. Interestingly, Amazon is now offering a lot of the stuff that's recently been on NowTV. OK, you might end-up paying more for it, but you do get it in full HD with 5.1 audio, without any hassle, and it stays in your library, so no worries about it disappearing, as is often the case on NowTV. The downside is that you have wait a bit longer for your fix of 'X'.
I think that NowTV on Apple hardware is a busted flush. If you want to stream NowTV content in a manner that's acceptable to you then you need to look elsewhere, as the app. is not your friend on ATV hardware. For me, it's a so close yet so far scenario. The ATV box is just about the best streaming box out there, offering gigabit Ethernet connectivity and is well made, if slightly pricey hardware. I think that only the nVidia Shield comes close.
It will be interesting to see what 2021 brings. I won't be holding my breath though. I might still go for an ATV box, although with a new box promised next year it might be worth my holding fire. That decision might be easier to make if Sky/NowTV don't deliver stuff that SWMBO and I would like to watch. Time will tell.
