Advanced Television

Sky could offer pay-as-you-go OTT

March 8, 2012

By Colin Mann

BSkyB’s planned over-the-top, Internet-delivered TV service – scheduled for launch in the first half of 2012 – could see a new pay-per-view and pay-as-you-go approach.

Since its launch in analogue DTH days, Sky’s business model has been based on monthly subscriptions on a contract basis, but according to Andrew Griffith, Chief Financial Officer at BSkyB, OTT platforms facilitate different payment models.

“There’ll be a spectrum all the way down to individual shows; we’ll see how far we get,” Griffith told delegates at the FT Digital Media Conference in London. “There’s a lot of growth left in cable and satellite platforms in the UK,” Griffith suggested, recognising that a “psychological barrier” had been the need for a dish, a 12-month contract “because of the way we put set-top box in to the market and the perception, though not the reality, that you need to buy a bundle.”

“Over-the-top platforms facilitate new services that are more pay-as-you-go. That’s not necessarily deflating in terms of price, some of those pay-as-you-go services are more expensive, but they could reach out to a much larger base than the 13 million or so people who take pay-TV today,” he suggested.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, OTT, OTT, Pay TV