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Hidden deep within a release about a relatively mundane announcement of Sky’s new Disney Movies Channel, there’s a small titbit makes all the difference in the sci-fi-loving world: “including new movies from Lucasfilm, and also Marvel Studios features”. Sky’s bagged a Disney movie channel and with it, early access to Iron Man 3, Avengers and the incoming JJ Abrams Star Wars movies. And that’s huge.
Disney’s movies are great, for the most part — especially the CGI animated movies — but it’s really the prospect of exclusive access to monster blockbusters including Marvel’s latest raft of awesome superhero movies like Iron Man and The Avengers, the Star Wars collection, and the new stuff coming out of Lucasfilm that’s the biggest draw.
It should mean services like LoveFilm and Netflix get blocked from access to Disney’s new movies, at least in the first pay TV window. The beauty of this is that even if you don’t have Sky you’ll be able to grab them from Now TV, although that might be a rather pricy option. [Sky]
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Another load of good stuff getting locked to Sky. Can we safely assume that ALL films and TV programmes will be EXCLUSIVE to Sky by about 2020? Can’t stream Bond, Star Wars, Disney, any good TV or sport.
Well put your hand in your pocket and take out a Sky subscription. It’s really quite easy.
But I don’t want to. There are too many negatives to justify forking out a premium just for the privilege of having Sky TV. Apart from lining Murdoch’s pocket, I don’t want (and not allowed anyway in my rental property) a whacking great dish, to pay extra for HD, and streaming, and have to be on Sky Broadband, and have a Sky phone, and even then for the braodband to be terrible copper ADSL.
To be fair you don’t need to take Sky Broadband or phone line. I have mine with Virgin.
I don’t think you can moan about sky having too many exclusives if you aren’t willing to pay for it. Ultimately it comes down to whether you value their product although I can understand if you’re not able to due to your landlord.
Exactly. I’m sure they must be verging on a sport/programme monopoly by now, in some shape or form.
I’m mostly bitter about the F1 coverage because Sky TV in general offers horrendous value for money, and I’m not paying hundreds of pounds more each year to get Sky HD.
The official reason for the BBC handing half the races to Sky was because F1 worked out at the cost of £1 per viewer, where as programmes like Eastenders only work out at £0.30p per viewer.
However, looking at the TV schedule for tonight, for example, you have to question why the BBC has also thrown money at trashy programmes like ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’, ‘Flog It’, ‘Eastenders’, ‘Waterloo Road’, the painfully self-indulgent ‘Meet The Izzards’, and a whole heap of crap comedy and reality TV on BBC3 the rest of the time.
I totally agree. The best programmes are ones that are lovingly crafted, and despite some of the dross that is broadcast, there is still a lot of good stuff out there. The BBC has Luther, Top Gear, Sherlock, Doctor Who and more. Channel 4 is a prime example of this, with Mad Fat Diary, Black Mirror, Utopia, and some great independent films that are funded by Channel 4. Plus their entire back catalogue is free to stream online, and you don’t even need a frigging TV licence (you do to watch live FYI).
I detest how Sky see something that has just gained popularity (like F1, Glee, Lost, 24, House, Cricket) and then take it exclusively for a long period and then charge the average person through the nose for permission to watch. And it’s not like they actually produce any good stuff themselves. The love machine?! Give me a bloody break. Is that how modern television works nowadays? Let the Public Service broadcasters take the risk on products that could either flop and lose them viewers and advertising revenue, or let them broadcast good stuff only to see them lose series down the line to Sky. It’s a crying shame.
House used to be on Five, until Sky got the rights.
I hate Sky, they just throw their money at everything, giving a unfair disadvantage to the rest of the media companies.
Every time something becomes successful on Five, ITV, Channel 4 and it doesn’t belong to those companies, Sky get their grubby mits on them.
The funny this is Sky has, including radio channels and all the movie channels, 650+ channels in the complete package. The funnier thing? All those channels and there is fuck all to watch sometimes.
I just d/l everything
Exactly. Internets is way faster lulz.