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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Update Now TV app for apple TV

Will the Now TV app for Apple TV ever get an update?

 

The current version is complete rubbish and makes me regret ever getting a Now TV pass.

 

Unless there is an update my Now TV experience will be very short indeed.

2,755 REPLIES 2,755
nst
Elite

@Anonymous User 

 

The 5.1 issue really irritates me.

 

The only consolation is that they even can't get it right on other platforms.

 

Blaming Apple is a total nonsense.  ALL the others apps on that platform manage 5.1 so why can't NowTV.  They also said it was being sorted.... it clearly isn't.  

 

I recently started to watch another series from Sky1 on the entertainment pass... again this is labelled as a 5.1 show... and yet all im getting is 2.0 (via the fire stick where 5.1 should work).

 

I give up.  Its scandalous that NowTV get you to pay for a service and then pretend to deliver it.  The only reason I think they are getting away with it is maybe not a lot of their customers have true 5.1 systems.  My Sonos kit tells me the audio format and I can check... and they aren't delivering 5.1 despite them advertising as such on the programme.

 

This just goes to show that even if they 'supported' 5.1 on AppleTV they probably wouldn't deliver content as such.

Anonymous User
Not applicable
Someone really needs to file a formal complaint, I’ve done similar in the past with other companies but don’t have time to do this.

1. Lack of voice input - Disability Discrimination Act 1995
2. Lack of 5.1 (when advertised) - Consumer Rights Act 2015
nst
Elite

I think that I will be cancelling my boost pass.

 

Its just ridiculous.

 

AppleTV aside.... of course we can use other platforms (not that its reasonable to have to... but thats another story).

 

However fundamentally advertising something as delivering 5.1 sound and then not actually doing so (on a  platform that we know works) is plain wrong.

 

If im paying for 5.1 and routinely not getting it - whats the point.

 

I will be tweeting NowTV and making that clear, and then cancelling the boost pass.

 

Until such time they actually deliver the service we are paying for.

Ab76
Scholar

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 has been replaced by the Equality Act 2010, but the principles are pretty much the same. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I have officially given up with the AppleTV platform in terms of NowTV it has been a long journey and sadly it hasn't gotten to where I wanted it to. I really would recommend anyone to move to the Firestick Platform if they can. 

 

In Terms of Boost yes it has teething problems but I wouldn't want to go back to 720p viewing either I hope it gets resolved this year as it is niggly I have noticed some 5.1 issues but can resolve but not seen to 50FPS issues people have mentioned.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Here's my tinfoil hat theory...

 

The Apple TV, a premium product, is in direct competition with Sky Q, for the market demographic at least. If you can get almost the same experience as Sky Q on an apple box, you have no reason to switch to the far more profitable Sky Q platform.

 

I think Sky are aware of this and pulled the plug on a couple of features that would make it competitive. Now TV, I'm sure, are aware that Now TV customers expect an equivalent to their app on other platforms but Sky itself has clipped the Apple TV incarnation's wings for marketing purposes.

 

As pointed out, there is no technological limitation, there is no lack of customer desire, but there is a parent company who's bottom line is king. Now TV, in many ways, is a better offering than Sky Q already. Get it polished on the app and I think they would lose customers to the apple platform and the less profitable Now TV package.

 

Anyway, that's my mad theory. 

nst
Elite

@Anonymous User 

 

I dont disagree with any of that.

 

I do think there is SOMETHING gong on as there is literally, technically, NO reason why the AppleTV app can't be decent - especially the 5.1 sound issues.  It makes no sense.

 

I would reiterate my theory on Amazon and their mysteriously timed release of the Firestick app one week later than the AppleTV one... no fanfare, no beta testing.... and its way better than the AppleTV one.... I do believe that this is not a coincidence... and that its going to eventually get better but only after some kind of 'technical superiority' period of time to entice as many people to use Firestick (and by definition other Amazon products).

Lets face it.. this IS working exactly as planned.  I, for one, have been patiently waiting for the AppleTV app to get updated but now find myself unable to use it so have been forced to adopt the Firestick one....

 

 

Your theory on cannibalising the SkyQ experience has merit but I dont think its quite the case here. SkyQ is a very different usage experience to NowTV.  SkyQ does attract the customer who wants traditional Live TV, a 7 day TV guide, 4K, a PVR experience etc.

NowTV couldn't be more different - there's a much greater amount of manual effort required to watch it instead of an automatic recording queue etc... however back to your point.. IF the AppleTV TV app functionality was adopted as originally promised.. then this does indeed compete with the PVR type functionality.  Its a damn shame they didn't do this as they promised, and maybe they will one day but your argument certainly has validity for the reason why they perhaps didn't.

 

I do think that NowTV and SkyQ would never tread on each others toes as they are very different experiences for different customers.

Hooba
Scholar 3

Sky can't afford to rely on traditional customers that want traditional Live TV, a 7 day TV guide, 4K, a PVR experience. 

 

They need to (continue) to attract new customers, otherwise they will have a steadily dwindling subscriber base. I don't know anyone below the age of 30 that wants traditional Live TV, a 7 day TV guide etc.

 

I'm in my 50s and I don't want it !

 

And I think Sky knows this - hence efforts to open up access to Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon through the SkyQ platform. I imagine it took all of a week to write the NowTV amazon app. I imagine it took a lot longer for the negotiations about cross platform availability of Amazon / NowTV. But it clearly got to a point where it worked for both parties. Sky / NowTV will continue to leverage their content to achieve wider, long term, objectives.

 

Apple has either nothing to offer, or isn't willing to pay NowTV a fee for NowTV to do 5.1 through the AppleTV / NowTV app. And why would Apple do that? They're selling a (the best) streaming box on the market - not a SkyQ substitute. Very different markets.

 

I think Sky are in a bit of a bind, medium to long term. It's likely getting more difficult to flog a PVR type service as time goes on. And the model of tying punters in to 18 month contracts for Sky content looks increasingly untenable. I am now able to turn HD Sky premium channels on and off every month, provided I subscribe to at least SD Entertainment. Why / how? Because BT forced Sky to pay 100s of £millions extra for the footy right until Sky agreed to allow BT to wholesale the Sky channels. Sky will keep its current restrictive model going for as long as it can - but days (probably years) are numbered.

 

 

nst
Elite

@Hooba 

 

Where do you get the idea that Apple would be expected to pay NowTV a fee for 5.1?

 

Thats not it at all.  Apple provide the platform, the developers provide the content - although there are developer fees to pay apple for use of the platform, and a percentage of profits on subscriptions etc... Apple certainly wouldn't have to pay NowTV a penny for providing content via their App.

 

NowTV have some kind of reason for this - its not technical, as all the other apps on the AppleTV platform are more than capable of managing 5.1.

When  NowTV provide 5.1 via the boost pass on a number of other streaming platforms, there is no reason whatsoever why they 'wont' on AppleTV.

Back to my theory.. in whose interests is it that the AppleTV app is terrible?  NowTV's? No.  Another platform who offer the NowTV app and would rather drive sales and traffic to their platform at the expense of Apple...? YES.  And who might that be... Right now to me Amazon looks as guilty as a puppy sitting next to a pile of poo.

 

 

Hooba
Scholar 3

Why was the NowTV app only exclusively available on LG smart TVs back in the day?

 

Why are only Sony Android TVs currently able to use NowTV apps?

 

Why has NowTV released an Amazon NowTV app (with 5.1)?

 

Are these some kind of weird coincidence, or have deals been struck?

 

Where's the deal for NowTV and Apple that makes sense for NowTV to deliver an all singing / dancing NowTV app?

 

What other reasons could there be that such an app doesn't exist? Could it be that it would eat into SkyQ? Yes - it might well be. So unless Apple are going to cough, no decent NowTV app for AppleTV. I think we're saying the same thing - there's no deal that's ever going to work between Apple and NowTV - because Apple would have to pay a fortune to compensate Sky and they'd never see the money back.

 

This isn't a question of Amazon being 'guilty'. It's a question of Amazon agreeing to put Amazon Prime on SkyQ. That has huge value for Amazon. And has huge value for Sky. There's no value to be found in a great app on Apple for NowTv - unless either a) AppleTV + becomes indispensable to UK consumers and therefore Sky want it on Sky Q; or b) Apple become so desperate for a great NowTV app they pay Sky for the privilege. I agree - it ain't ever going to happen. But its only under circumstances that its mutually beneficial that we'll ever see a good NowTV app on AppleTV.

 

All of that aside - it is clear that some parties (LG and Sony) have / are paying for exclusivity re NowTv. It is a 'thing' that NowTV strike either financial deals, or cross content deals, in return for supplying NowTV. It can't be a surprise that with the introduction  of a 2 tier service (Boost / no Boost) that NowTV want to do the same thing. It has value. They want a return on that. Yes - it won't work with Apple. That's why the app is so dire.

 

Edit for summary:

You query 'why should Apple have to pay'. But surely it's clear that Amazon itself has just 'paid' for a great NowTV app - by agreeing to put Amazon on SkyQ. It's a very clear transaction. Unless there's some sort of Apple/NowTV transaction, there'll be a long wait for a decent app on AppleTV.