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BT beats Sky to Champions League and Europa League TV rights
BT has secured another three-year deal for Champions League and Europa League football, extending its lucrative TV rights until 2021 in the UK. The contract is worth £1.2 billion, up from £897 million in 2013, and includes both the group stages and knockout rounds of each competition. As BBC News notes, the latest auction -- which takes effect from the 2018/19 season -- gives BT true exclusivity. That means no matches or highlights will be shown through the free-to-air broadcaster ITV. In return, BT has promised to "enhance its social media coverage" with shareable clips and weekly roundups. It will also continue showing the finals on YouTube.
Sky VR now available on Google Daydream headsets
Sky has slowly been adding virtual reality content to its Sky VR app, but those Star Wars and David Beckham specials have only been available to viewers with Google Cardboard. Fast forward almost five months and the broadcaster has finally done something about that, today confirming that it's adding support for Google's other VR platform, Daydream, to its apps. It means that if you own one of Google's Daydream View headsets or are keen to invest in one, you'll now have more local content available to stream.
Amazon's next video original is a smash British TV series
Netflix isn't the only streaming service that can snap up a popular British TV show. Amazon has revealed that season two of Fortitude, Sky's well-received Arctic thriller, will be one of its original series. It'll be available on BBC Two in the UK, but you'll need to head to Prime Video to watch in the US. The story revolves around its namesake community, where parasites and pathogens run rampant -- suffice it to say that a sheriff's disappearance and a dead body are just the start of the town's troubles. Dennis Quaid and Game of Thrones' Richard Dormer are the most recognizable stars.
Discovery's channels stay on Sky thanks to last-minute deal
Discovery's 12 channels are staying put on Sky, with the pair having agreed a new multi-year carriage deal at the eleventh hour. Negotiations had all but imploded last week, and Discovery threatened to pull its factual and sports programming from both Sky and its Now TV service. The channels would've gone dark today, but thanks to a last-minute handshake the stand-off has ended rather anticlimactically, given how candidly both companies spoke out about their strained relationship.
Discovery likely to pull its TV channels from Sky next month
Discovery's 12 UK channels are likely to disappear from Sky and its Now TV service at the beginning of next month, as negotiations between the two for a new carriage deal have broken down. Discovery has threatened to pull all programming, including its two Eurosport channels, if Sky isn't willing to meet the financial terms of its offer before the end of January. Similar situations arise in the US from time to time, but are relatively rare in the UK. And what's even more uncommon is how publicly the dispute is playing out.
Sky Q will be available without a satellite dish from 2018
For almost thirty years, Sky has operated first and foremost as a satellite television provider. Sure, the company has expanded its empire to include phone, broadband and, more recently, mobile services, but many of its customers have at some point had to wait home while an engineer fixes a receiver dish to the side of their house. Soon, that won't be the case, at least for Sky Q subscribers, after the provider confirmed it's ditching satellites for some customers in favour of an internet-connected service.
Sky broadband ads now show the speeds you'll actually get
Sky's got not one, not two, but three tidbits of broadband-related news to share today, just before knocking off for Christmas. The first is the launch of the "UK's lowest fibre broadband and line rental offer" at £20 per month, with a one-off £20 setup fee. It's exclusive to new and existing Sky TV customers, and similar discounts can be found on the provider's other fibre options. Next up, Sky's got a new customer support team dedicated solely to fixing broadband issues, which we'll call the on/off squad. Most interesting, though, is from today Sky will begin advertising the average download speeds of its broadband packages alongside the standard "up to" metric.
21st Century Fox is buying UK's Sky in $14.6 billion deal
Following talks last week, 21st Century Fox has agreed to buy Sky, the UK's largest pay-TV network, for £11.7 billion ($14.6 billion). The UK-based pay-TV broadcaster and broadband provider counts nearly 22 million subscribers in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria. That'll give Rupert Murdoch a delivery platform for his 20th Century Fox movie studio and Fox TV network, along with cable TV channels like FX, Fox Sports and National Geographic.
Now TV Smart Box review: A scrappy blend of on-demand and live TV
Now TV is pivotal to Sky's future success. More people than ever before are eschewing big, expensive TV packages for lighter, on-demand alternatives such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. For the last few years, Sky has been refining (and heavily marketing) Now TV in response. The platform has a number of "passes" which, for roughly the price of a Netflix subscription, cover either sports, movies or TV shows. Now, Sky is pushing forward with the Smart Box, a set-top streamer that comes with the Now TV app and a coaxial port as standard. That means it can handle both free-to-air TV channels and Now TV's content, which includes live channel streaming and catch-up programming. The idea is that the box (which is basically a Roku in disguise) will appeal to cord-cutters who fancy an affordable streaming service or two on top of their traditional TV experience. With the new Smart Box, you can alternate between them without switching inputs or grabbing another remote.
Sky receives takeover bid from 21st Century Fox
21st Century Fox is in advanced talks to buy Sky, a major telecoms player and the biggest pay-TV provider in the UK. Negotiations are underway and the directors of both companies have reached an "agreement" of £10.75 per share. As Bloomberg reports, the deal values Sky at £18.5 billion ($23.2 billion). Fox already owns 39 percent of Sky, and media mogul Rupert Murdoch has tried to buy the remaining slice before. A takeover in 2010 was eventually abandoned, however, after News Corporation (now known as 21st Century Fox) was embroiled in a huge phone hacking scandal.
Sky Mobile to offer flexible contracts with rollover data
It's been a long time since Sky revealed plans to become a mobile virtual network operator with the help of O2. The company opened up registrations for Sky Mobile last month, not that those registering really knew what they were expressing their interest in. Today, though, Sky has pulled the curtain aside on its upcoming mobile offering, which will finally go live in mid-December. It would be unadvisable to enter such a saturated market without a unique selling point to pitch, which in Sky Mobile's case, is rollover data and fully flexible contracts.
MPs want Sky and Virgin Media to make public channels more visible
Pay-TV providers in the UK may be forced to do more to promote the on-demand content of public service broadcasters (PSBs) on their platforms in the future, under new rules being discussed by MPs. The Digital Economy Bill, announced earlier this year in the Queen's Speech before being published a few months later, sets out obligations for broadband coverage/speeds and writes a requirement for age gates on porn sites into law, among other things. It's currently making its way through the House of Commons, and yesterday members of the Public Bill Committee proposed a new amendment that would ensure PSBs like the BBC gained more visibility on pay-TV platforms -- a direct reaction to our changing viewing habits.
Sky Mobile will open signups on October 31st
It's taken more than two years, but Sky is finally ready to launch its own mobile service. At its annual Investor Day, the company confirmed it will open registrations for Sky Mobile, its O2-powered network, from October 31st. The move will ultimately allow Sky to sit alongside BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk as a true "quad-play" provider.
Sky Q smartphone app lets you take your recordings with you
One of the clever things about the Sky Q box is that it can sync recordings to devices throughout your home. The company has offered a tablet app since launch, but if you wanted to transfer TV shows and movies over to your smartphone, you were out of luck. Thankfully, that changes today with the launch of a dedicated mobile app that lets you stream live and on-demand programmes but also remotely set your Sky Q box to record episodes while you're out and about.
Sky Q's Split Screen puts two matches on one TV
If you love sport, picking a match to watch on TV can be a nightmare. Murray's semi-final against Wawrinka? Or Nadal's clash with Djokovic? When both are happening simultaneously, you have to pick one or the other (or find a second screen and keep it nearby). Sky is trying to fix this problem with "Split Screen," a new feature for Sky Q which lets you watch two games side-by-side. It should work for "any multi-match or multi-camera event" broadcast by Sky through its Red button service.
Cheaper Sky Q bundle marks the end for Sky+HD
When Sky launched its new Q service, it was only a matter of time before it became the default option for new and upgrading subscribers -- we just didn't expect it to happen so soon. As of today, Sky Q is no longer positioned as the premium offering, with Sky+HD packages now notably absent from the provider's online store. And to make the transition from old to new that bit easier to swallow, Sky has added a cheaper, basic Q bundle to lower the cost of entry.
Sky introduces its first VR app
Sky has announced that it's launching Sky VR, a mobile virtual reality app that'll showcase the best of the company in 360-degree video. Viewers will be able to catch, for free, snippets of sporting events as well as promotional content from movie studios, including Star Wars: Red Carpet. The broadcaster will also be producing original content for the platform, including Sky Sports: Closer with David Beckham. Closer acts as a showcase of sorts, with Beckham introducing clips from an Anthony Joshua fight and trackside at Silverstone.
UK broadband customers also affected by Yahoo hack
Yahoo might not be quite as big in the UK as it is in the US, but that doesn't mean the shockwaves from the company's enormous hack won't be felt on the both sides of the Atlantic. In total, 500 million users were affected by the 2014 breach, which was only confirmed yesterday, and some of those accounts may belong to people who use email services provided by UK broadband and TV providers BT and Sky.
ESPN will air a drone race series starting October 23rd
ESPN's first experiment with drone racing coverage must have been successful, as it's committing to robotic sports in a big way. The TV network has unveiled a multi-year broadcasting deal with the Drone Racing League that will have both ESPN and ESPN2 airing races in the Americas, starting with the 2016 season. The series broadcast kicks off on October 23rd at 9PM, and will spread five races over the course of 10 episodes. It all comes to a head with two DRL World Championship episodes on November 20th.
Drone racing is coming to Sky Sports next month
Drone racing's rise to prominence is hardly a surprise. The sport combines a new, rapidly improving technology with skilful pilots and bombastic, three-dimensional courses. If you've ever watched a heat, either in person or online, you'll know it's an exhilarating spectacle. With this in mind, it's no bombshell to hear that Sky has made an investment in the Drone Racing League (DRL), a professional outfit backed by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. As part of its $1 million cash injection, Sky will be showing the entire tournament on its new Sky Sports Mix channel in the UK.
