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SkyTV still dreaming

SkyTV have announced they're launching a killer drawcard channel.

Well it would have been a real drawcard ten years ago.

scifi is a perennial favourite, especially of techies and early adopters so I find it perplexing that it has taken Sky so long to finally come up with an offering that addresses this very strong and valuable niche.

US pay TV viewers have had the scifi channel for a very long time and I had always hoped (when I was a Sky subscriber) that they would bring it to NZ - but they never did.

So you might think I would have though it a smart move to create an all-new science fiction offering for the SkyTV network - as is their plan, come November this year... but I don't.

In fact, it's really a rather silly move on their part.

The problem is that virtually everyone I know who would have paid for a scifi channel on Sky has already discovered the wonderful world of streamed video via the internet.

Instead of paying SkyTV a monthly stipend for their grossly overpriced "take it or leave it" bundle of disparate programming, these folk pick and choose the programmes and movies they want to watch by using software such as XBMC or via a geospoofed subscription to NetFlix. Why the hell would they pay SkyTV for what is almost certain to be yet another lackluster collection of dross.

In this NZH story a bit of a hint is given as to the content that anyone silly enough to subscribe to Sky's channel will find.

Now Firefly is a great series (with a very big fan-base who lament its limited run) but you can pick up all the episodes on DVD or BluRay for under $20 and then it's yours to watch forever.

Likewise, other "seen-it" series such as Babylon 5 are more fillers than major drawcards for would-be subscribers.

As I said earlier, this channel would have been great stuff a decade ago but sadly, it's all now freely available online to anyone who wants to spend $50 on a Raspberry Pi and 20 minutes to install a version of XBMC and its many free TV/movie plugins. Do this and you'll not only get access to all the stuff on Sky's new channel but also the latest movies such as Edge Of Tomorrow - which I watched several weeks ago at a friend's place -- via the Net.

I'm not supporting online piracy -- Lord knows, a soon as Neflix offers its service to Kiwis without the need for geospoofing, I'll be in like flynn to hand over my cash.

If Sky are hoping their scifi channel will attract new customers then they're completely wrong. All those geeks who love their scifi are already getting access to much, much more, thanks to the Net -- so I don't see them wasting money on Sky's paltry, overpriced offerings any time soon.

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