Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: The future: be careful what you wish for

Matthew Poole

Fri, 28 Jun 2013 07:59:39 +1200

Does anyone really trust the Govt to get this right?

They're already mostly there with i.govt.nz. It's the interface that will be presented to the private sector that intrigues me, because the government has demonstrated a wide-ranging, comprehensive inability to secure systems that are available to external parties.

Sacha

Fri, 28 Jun 2013 07:52:40 +1200

do you trust NZ Post?

Ian Dalziel

Fri, 28 Jun 2013 06:44:31 +1200

Friday Teeshirt!
You don’t have a right to competitive supply
of anything, in fact, copyrighted or not.
…and with this, the scales fell from their eyes.
The people of Realm E* rose as one
and got on with their lives…
eschewing the scenery
to follow the die
where they’re cast!…

Matthew Poole

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:09:25 +1200

one company sells MY right to choose where to buy something to someone else

Your mistake is thinking that you have a right to competitive supply of copyrighted material. You don't. Never have. It's not even particularly unreasonable that you have no such "right". You don't have a right to…

Paul Campbell

Mon, 24 Jun 2013 22:04:05 +1200

We were talking about this issue in general tonight – not just football or rugby but Game of throne, Dr Who, you know all that stuff....

So what happens is that one company sells MY right to choose where to buy something to someone else, they even got paid for…

Rob Stowell

Mon, 24 Jun 2013 12:59:12 +1200

What has happened with Igloo?
Cheapskate attempt to hoover up those of us who have resisted pay-tv with some 'affordable' options?
It's not tempting ... yet. Be interesting to see how the 'pay-per-view' model, which they offer for some movies and sport, works out though.

anth

Sun, 23 Jun 2013 13:46:40 +1200

I imagine or at least hope- that the smart telco would want to get first mover indentification as the telco to give the best service for watching content over the internet (something I already associate with ORCON with their unlimited caps on youtube and isky)

Not any more. [[http://www.orcon.net.nz/about/article/changes_to_the_o_zone|Orcon closing…

martinb

Sun, 23 Jun 2013 10:59:39 +1200

and then these folk have children with the help and these children end up as perennial internet commentators?

still, as a snarky stereotype it's a different one from 'poofters, wogs and spastics'. Kinda like South Park on San Francisco...

Besides all pejorative stereotypes only apply to local football as you…

martinb

Sun, 23 Jun 2013 10:44:51 +1200

Sommet will have Bundesliga free to air on Freeview! Including Marco Rojas! Though seems unlikely he will start, but who knows?

$3-4 a week is nothing to get ALL the EPL games, a fair swag of them on demand, and highlights packages. Anyone who says otherwise isn't a football fan…

Euan Mason

Sat, 22 Jun 2013 22:04:14 +1200

But that only works if EPL is the only thing you want to watch. You gain EPL and a price drop but lose Euro leagues, Champions League, rugby, cricket etc… Throw SOHO into the mix and yes, you pay through the nose but it’s a one box management solution for…

David Hood

Sat, 22 Jun 2013 19:05:59 +1200

And for Tennis fans, I see Wimbledon will be broadcast on YouTube sponsored by Rolex. I've no idea if there is any geolocation applying to the stream, but it does seem to be another example of the shift to computer based broadcast.

Hadyn Green

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 10:31:30 +1200

Hope you didn't pay too much for NFL League Pass. It was free last year (might have been a short running promotion but it came in the first week or two).
Yeah that's why I said "subscribed" :) I had the free thing and it lasted the whole season (I…

Peter Darlington

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:53:02 +1200

Nice troll, though, Tom!

He wasn't trolling, he was just having some fun. Apparently... :-)

Peter Darlington

Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:52:21 +1200

The big improvement is the price. With Sky you are forced to buy loads of content that you don't necessarily want before you even begin paying for sport broadcasts.

But that only works if EPL is the only thing you want to watch. You gain EPL and a price drop…

Yamis

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 21:51:42 +1200

Typical NZ boys seem to play rugby or league until their early twenties while thriving on a diet of cheap beer and KFC. Then they give up the sport but not the diet and wonder why they die of obesity and diabetes.

Well you described me well enough :)

I…

Yamis

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 21:35:35 +1200

I subscribed to NFL Game Pass last season and MLB TV this year. For this I get every game in the pre, post and regular season on demand and in full HD.

Hope you didn't pay too much for NFL League Pass. It was free last year (might have been…

Euan Mason

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 19:03:59 +1200

Those born of the less anxious or less caring walk to school and still play contact sports with an oval ball, where they discover manly virtues like stoicism and courage in way not likely to give them a death wish in their later teens/early twenties. And because they enjoy it,…

Euan Mason

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 19:01:51 +1200

The Premier League had 80% of weekend games and all weekday games though so we were all seeing our teams practically every week, every game, and it was easily recordable via MySky. Hard to see where the improvement is with this.

The big improvement is the price. With Sky you…

Dylan Reeve

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:27:47 +1200

Check out Slingshot’s marketing – bizzaro!

Yeah, they're going to the nudge nudge wink wink plausible deniability angle... "Oh noooooo, it's not so you can access overseas content in breach of the terms of those sites. It's just a convenient services for your overseas house guests"

Dylan Reeve

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:26:23 +1200

Dylan – Netflix or Hulu Plus? About to go that way myself – AD etc on Netflix suggests its better, does Hulu really get any worthy tv shows that Netflix don’t?

I use both. Netflix has a pretty good range, but there are definitely things that don't end up on…

Dylan Reeve

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:18:23 +1200

In case you’re not aware, you can receive FreeView via satellite using your Sky dish. You only need a decoder.

I'm aware... But DVB-S Freeview is shit. Poor(er) quality, fewer channels and no HD... Not really interested in spending the money :)

Anthony Behrens Esq

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:50:27 +1200

Check out Slingshot's marketing – bizzaro!

Anthony Behrens Esq

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:45:10 +1200

Gareth – that is amazing news about Slingshot...SKY TV shares will probably drop another 100million when the gamlers at the stock exchange realise the cat's really out of the bag. Other providers will follow shortly...wicked

Hugh Wilson

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:38:33 +1200

Re: the Sunday replay and Monday highlights show, it’s worth noting that the EPL schedule changes up a lot around the Christmas / New Year’s period with games being held midweek and a general plethora of matches occurring (i.e. 2 ‘rounds’ within one week) .. presumably TVNZ and Coliseum will…

Gareth Ward

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:50:40 +1200

Dylan – Netflix or Hulu Plus? About to go that way myself – AD etc on Netflix suggests its better, does Hulu really get any worthy tv shows that Netflix don't?

Also, amazing timing from Slingshot to announce a "global service" on their Internet plans on the same day -…

anth

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:53:14 +1200

I never watch any Sky content. I will concede that if I had a subscription I'd probably find something else to watch.

Sky Basic + Soho = $57/month. I don't know how easy it is to quit and rejoin so the 10 episodes for a season could require being subscribed…

SteveH

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:09:52 +1200

I don’t have a working TV antenna at home (we only have a Sky dish and no Sky decoder).
In case you're not aware, you can receive FreeView via satellite using your Sky dish. You only need a decoder.

SteveH

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 14:07:34 +1200

If you were to buy episodes on iTunes, for example, you’d pay something like $3.50 an episode. For that one series alone you’re looking at $14/mth – it doesn’t take many shows to start adding up.
Right. Basic Sky (which doesn't include Game of Thrones) is $47 per month, or…

Dylan Reeve

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:28:01 +1200

Via the Internet? I’ve just bought an Apple TV and downloaded a movie. It ate 5Gb of my monthly broadband allowance. I wonder how much broadband a Premier League football game will take? How big a plan will users have to have to watch their favourite team play all their…

Dylan Reeve

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:25:11 +1200

It depends on how much of that content you want. For those of us who don’t care about anything on Sky except Game of Thrones the cost per episode would be absurd.

Seems unlikely to me that you never watch any other Sky content.

If you were to buy episodes…

Peter Darlington

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:06:09 +1200

Well you don't have to bother recording it. Any game you want live (I assume most of these games were shown delayed). The ability to go back and watch any game you want or any part of any game. The ability to drop Sky.

For me
1. Recording worked best…

Peter Darlington

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 13:01:07 +1200

I thought Football overtook Rugby in NZ for participation numbers years ago, participation and viewing (paying for a sky subscription) are 2 different matters however.

For kids sports, yes, but rugby's retention rate to adulthood is higher I believe. This may also help explain why we continue to be so…

Hugh Wilson

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:41:32 +1200

Being based in Melbourne my comments on this are somewhat arm’s length.

The new arrangements are obviously illustrative of the convergence which is occurring in the media, broadcasting and communication space. As alluded to by Russell convergence has the potential to create major implications for business models of ‘traditional’ TV…

Alan Perrott

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:31:30 +1200

being Skyless I'm chuffed to be getting Big League Soccer back again, minus, I hope, the token highlights from the Scottish league. I guess it'll also mean I'm back to my teen dilemma of when to mow the bloody lawns.

and there's also Sommet Sports lurking on Freeview channel 114…

Tom Semmens

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:56:49 +1200

but I can ski in a fast but untidy fashion

Hmmm, you don't have to be a new age crystal healer to predict some sort of relationship in your future with someone whose initials are "ACC".

anth

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:48:53 +1200

As expensive as Sky is, it’s a lot cheaper than buying all that content directly (assuming you could).

It depends on how much of that content you want. For those of us who don't care about anything on Sky except Game of Thrones the cost per episode would be absurd.

Glenn Pearce

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:28:25 +1200

I thought Football overtook Rugby in NZ for participation numbers years ago, participation and viewing (paying for a sky subscription) are 2 different matters however.

Rich of Observationz

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:17:01 +1200

How it should be. I haven't touched a ball when not on horseback since 5th form, but I can ski in a fast but untidy fashion, ride badly and am moderately useful on a boat.

Typical NZ boys seem to play rugby or league until their early twenties while thriving…

Tom Semmens

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:16:57 +1200

Hard to see where the improvement is with this.

Personally, I can't see any great improvement, beyond saving me money by getting some competition which will cut the cost of pay TV for me.

Hadyn Green

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:04:49 +1200

Hard to see where the improvement is with this.
Well you don't have to bother recording it. Any game you want live (I assume most of these games were shown delayed). The ability to go back and watch any game you want or any part of any game. The ability…

Peter Darlington

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:44:12 +1200

s it better than Sky? Oh fucking HELL YES! One game or maybe two per week of randomised teams, most of whom I don't care about (or worse, actively hate).

The Premier League had 80% of weekend games and all weekday games though so we were all seeing our teams…

Hadyn Green

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:17:14 +1200

As wider response to this...
You'll have to ask yourself whether you want to pay $150 per Premier League season in addition to your Sky subscription. There is a downside to the disaggregation of content monopolies, at least in the short term.
...and other similar questions: LOL no.

I subscribed…

Tom Semmens

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:13:58 +1200

SKY has ruined rugby IMHO…there is just too much.

Not so much Sky as professionalism.

Professionalism of anything – be it armies, sport, or politics – tends to be the end of mass participation.

Just BTW, isn’t piracy the elephant in the room of this new internet broadcasting model? Now…

Anthony Behrens Esq

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 09:34:05 +1200

You may find the drop-off in teen soccer players is caused by lack of media coverage of the game...which is about to change.

SKY has ruined rugby IMHO...there is just too much.

One of the biggest problems for team sports in general has been our employment laws...weekends and evening practice…

Tom Semmens

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 09:22:41 +1200

I wasn't trolling, I was having a bit of fun.

Peter Darlington

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 09:07:40 +1200

Those born of the less anxious or less caring walk to school and still play contact sports with an oval ball

With Tom's trolling snipped, he's correct that rugby is not in any danger. Rugby clubs do an excellent job of player retention by making the clubs very family inclusive.…

The Ruminator

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 09:05:34 +1200

Will Coliseum also produce original football leagues with Kevin Spacey playing? Because I'd be all over that.

Tom Semmens

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:48:29 +1200

Rugby is possibly in about as much trouble as Sky…

Soccer is where the whiny progeny of middle class one child families end up after being bundled out of the SUV on Saturday morning. There, their parents can express their major anxiety issues about their petal’s well being by looking…

Anthony Behrens Esq

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:07:59 +1200

I'm under the impression that Football, or soccer as real New Zealanders call it – smiley face – is the most played team sport in the country. Rugby is possibly in about as much trouble as Sky...

Peter Darlington

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:48:41 +1200

A good point on NatRad this morning is that rural football fans have been thrown under a bus with this deal. Most are stuck on dialup speeds right now and in the future their guaranteed bandwidth under the Rural Broadband Initiative rollout is only 5Mbps fixed wireless.

And there are…

Anthony Behrens Esq

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:41:38 +1200

SKY RIP – TVNZ made the right decision...whether they knew it was or not is debatable, but SKY's business model is almost as dead as newspapers.

The kids are already hooked up to Netflix etc using VPNs

As for Apple TV...even that is a dog...try a Western Digital Live box...looks…

Tom Semmens

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:37:03 +1200

This move by Coliseum raises the whole question of the hopelessly outdated and out-manoeuvred Kiwi share. How much content (not to mention government services) need to go solely online before our major political parties wake up to the realisation that a broadband internet connection is now an essentially a human…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 07:02:40 +1200

I think these guys are dreaming..
So that's what those Google balloons are really for!
Not just a Helium deathwish or for selling ads to high country farmers, then...
;- /

John Holley

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:22:24 +1200

If you want to do IPTV etc., a unlimited data plan is good. Orcon is $100/month and that includes phone and unlimited NZ phone calls.

ceebeew

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:09:09 +1200

Via the Internet? I've just bought an Apple TV and downloaded a movie. It ate 5Gb of my monthly broadband allowance. I wonder how much broadband a Premier League football game will take? How big a plan will users have to have to watch their favourite team play all their…

Rich of Observationz

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:06:14 +1200

That's a stupid price. They should have started with at least $100 a month to see who bites. Premier League season tickets (different thing, I know) cost about $5k, so there must a group of people soccer-mad enough to fork out silly dollars.

Kumara Republic

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:29:55 +1200

SKY TV has gotten fat and rested on its laurels. As far as I'm concerned, it's increasingly a relic of the pre-Internet age, and I'm not surprised that SKY was a strong supporter of the Skynet Act. All the more so when Louis CK can pocket USD$1m from a single…

Sacha

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:57:31 +1200

one place we can all have a shared experience

Never going to happen again, no matter what the technology or other drivers.

Tom Semmens

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:49:59 +1200

No rugby = end of Sky, simple as that. Sky suck. They are a monopoly who know it and have always treated their customers like shit, playing incessant promos and advertisments (I’ve have PAID already, you douches) and continually putting up new paywalls to new and interesting stuff, using their…

Peter Darlington

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:42:20 +1200

One key issue is that both of those produce the content they sell. Coliseum is just distributing imported content — it's more like Netflix than a cable channel.

Delivery will be interesting. If they can get an AppleTV app and prove to have reliable and timely HD delivery they may…

Peter Darlington

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:39:59 +1200

I must be a Luddite. In our household the question is framed:

Sky? Why?

While Sky is mainly the preserve of us sports tragics, if you want to watch decent TV programming nowadays you have to have it, or wait until Prime catches up, or mess about with proxy rearranging.…

Sacha

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:36:08 +1200

$150 a month

per year

Sacha

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:35:32 +1200

And as Michael has pointed out, NHNZ wouldn’t have done nearly as well under TVNZ management

Recall him saying similar, yes. Good man.

Rich of Observationz

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:42:42 +1200

Strikes me that soccer is something that a small number of people care a lot about and would be prepared to pay $150 a month to watch Chelsea or whoever at 5am in the morning. The rest of the population would, if they want to watch at all, be quite…

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:37:52 +1200

A recent series of articles by Ben Thompson discuss ESPN & AMC as examples of affiliate/ad revenue. Basically:

One key issue is that both of those produce the content they sell. Coliseum is just distributing imported content — it's more like Netflix than a cable channel. Sky produces the local sports…

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:28:25 +1200

There were worst decisions made by TVNZ, such as the selling-off of the Natural History Unit for diddly-squat. I can recall Michael Stedman telling me a couple of years back that NHNZ was making a bigger annual profit than TVNZ.

I think losing that strategic shareholding in Sky was more…

Sacha

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:18:57 +1200

this may turn out to have been a very good week for NZ TV media

Yes

Sacha

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:18:27 +1200

I would rather chew my fingers off

we should have a non-beautiful-game party some time

Russell Brown

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:58:01 +1200

A friend of mine was saying buying rights for Serie A is being considered by the group. Other leagues might be available as a “standalone subscription or a cheap upgrade to the premier league pass” if enough people are interested.

That's a pretty good guess, I think. They'll test demand…

Konrad Kurta

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:55:35 +1200

A friend of mine was saying buying rights for Serie A is being considered by the group. Other leagues might be available as a "standalone subscription or a cheap upgrade to the premier league pass" if enough people are interested. Dunno if Sky has that tied up or not, or…

Tim Michie

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:46:33 +1200

I do agree, the origianl sky is much preferable although I do indulge in the occasional pathetic when overcast and ask someone to change the channel.

Geoff Lealand

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:43:05 +1200

Hundreds of hours of soccer? Hundreds of hours of kicking…

Phil Lyth

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:36:16 +1200

I must be a Luddite. In our household the question is framed:

Sky? Why?

Tim Michie

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:23:33 +1200

As much as I'm taking this through with my football friends, I'm also thinking that the arguements many have been making on the propagation of broadband choked by SkyTV restricting access (Game of Thrones season anyone?) does mean this is a positive development. If the TV3 negotiations plan out as…

Rob Coup

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:03:38 +1200

A recent series of articles by Ben Thompson discuss ESPN & AMC as examples of affiliate/ad revenue. Basically:

The truth is that the current TV system is a great deal for everyone.

* Networks earn much more per viewer than would be sustainable under a la carte pricing
* Networks are…

Dylan Reeve

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:50:23 +1200

You’ll have to ask yourself whether you want to pay $150 per Premier League season in addition to your Sky subscription. There is a downside to the disaggregation of content monopolies, at least in the short term.

There’s the rub of direct-to-consumer IP television. As expensive as Sky is, it’s…

Public Address

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:50:23 +1200

Discussion from blog post.